


The Sky is Falling

by xXfireXflyXx



Series: The Other [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst and Humor, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Humor, Minor Character Death, Series, Sexual Content, Sexual Tension, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-03
Updated: 2017-03-12
Packaged: 2018-04-02 13:09:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 27
Words: 136,940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4061209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xXfireXflyXx/pseuds/xXfireXflyXx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>To atone for his sins, Loki is sent back to Earth, powerless, in order to learn to appreciate the human race. Max, a small town grad student, has finally decided to kick her worthless roommate out, and needs another one to afford her apartment. Awful part-time jobs, college weirdness, and obscure feelings ensue during the God of Mischief's quest to gain his powers back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! Welcome to my second Loki/OC fic on AO3. As with my previous work, this story has already been posted on ff.net. In fact, I'm on the THIRD story in the series at this point, with probably close to a million words logged in this AU sphere that I've been playing in. 
> 
> This particular story was written in 2013. As much as I would like to go through and edit it while I post, I just don't have the time to fix any major issues (not that I recall there being any, but know that I'm mostly just transferring the story over between the websites and fixing small things as I go). Regardless, I appreciate all of your feedback. 
> 
> If you've already read some of Loki and Max's story elsewhere, welcome! Feel free to say hello in the comments! If this is your first experience with the pair, also welcome. It's a fun, turbulent, angsty, smutty ride that I can't wait to share with you.

“Banished to Earth as Thor was? You cannot be serious. I would rather whither in an Asgardian cell—"

“You will learn to appreciate the humans you sought to dominate, Loki,” Odin informed him as they stood at the edge of the realm. “I withdraw your power of insight, your strength, and your likeness to the other gods. You will live as a human, mortal and ordinary, in a place where no one will recognize your recent deeds. When you finally come to understand their worth, your powers will return.”

“I cannot appreciate humans—"

“Then you will grow old with them and die as one of them,” the All-Father sighed. “No one will find you there. No armies or warriors… You will be safe.”

“So this is out of the goodness of your heart?” Loki croaked, his eyebrows shooting up as he eyed the man he once called ‘father’ lazily. The old man looked grim, worn, as though weary from all his long years of life. 

“I am doing this out of love,” Odin told him, and then added, “and a need to see you learn your lesson. You will be welcomed back when your penance is served.”

“This place holds no welcome for me anymore,” he sneered, but he could already feel the pull of Odin’s magic. His energy sapped out of him slowly, and darkness encroached on his vision. He tried to call out the man’s name, sweet-talk his way out of this mess, but he was already gone, surrendered and lost to Odin’s almighty will.

* * *

Right. So it was finally time for Max to put her foot down. The piles of beer cans, the dirty laundry, and the unwashed (and molding) dishes had gnawed away at her for far too long; she had reached her breaking point. She’d been fair up until this point, and she had tried just about everything possible to communicate her displeasure with her current roommate’s messiness. She had left little sticky notes on and above the mess. She had sat him down and calmly explained that if he was going to rent one of her rooms, he had to at least try to be a little neater. She threatened to kick him out if he couldn’t get his act together. She whined, nagged, begged, asked politely, and nothing seemed to get through to him. 

Max didn’t particularly want a roommate. Here she was, twenty-six, and still living with someone. She had been a graduate student for about two years now, halfway through her Master’s degree in Museum Studies, and she thought at this point she wouldn’t need a roommate to afford her apartment. Yet, here she was, working two jobs – one as a TA and another at the campus book store – and she still struggled to keep up with the rent for her two bedroom apartment. Why she had chosen to get a place with more bedrooms than she needed was still a mystery to her, but when she found it during her third year of her undergraduate art degree, it was too much of a steal to turn down. She and a friend signed a lease, and with two people paying, the rent was certainly manageable. It helped that their landlord was a total gem, and she absolutely loved the place. 

Two years later, her best friend graduated and went off to bigger and better things in New York City. This left Max alone in the small town that was only an hour away from the other small town that she had grown up in, and she had no idea what she was going to do with her slightly useless Art History degree. She didn’t want to move back home, and when she found a number of her friends were returning to do graduate work at their small college in Masonville, it only made sense to stay where she felt the most comfortable. So, she applied to go into Museum Studies, hoping that would give her enough of a beefed up education in order to get a grown-up job. She took half a year off before she started schooling again to save some money as she worked full-time at the campus bookstore, and then threw herself back into her studies once the new semester started. 

Her story wasn’t particularly unique amongst her various friends; she grew up near Masonville in a family of four, had a brother in the military, and both parents were still married. She liked to play darts and drink beer at the pub, secretly devoured most reality television programs, and had no idea where she was going with her life. Yes, she knew what she liked to study, and art had always been her thing, but when her undergraduate came to an end, she had literally no vision of her future other than lingering in Masonville until she figured it out. So, that was exactly what she did, and she definitely wasn’t alone in that decision. 

For the first half of the year, it was easy to keep up with her rent, and she enjoyed a spare bedroom that she transformed into an office. However, once she was actually back in school, bills started adding up and Max began working less. Utilities, internet, cable, rent, eating out and everything else seemed to add up faster than she was expecting, and she knew she might lose her beloved apartment if she didn’t find someone to share the financial burden. However, she felt a twinge of possessiveness over her home; she had painted it, shaped it, and spaced it to perfection, which meant she was definitely going to keep her name on the lease. Therefore, she opted to sublet the second bedroom for a reasonable price, which had been one disaster after another. 

The first one had been an older woman who wanted to rent the room while she got her divorce sorted out. She spent the majority of her time on the phone screaming at her soon-to-be ex-husband, and then brought her kids and dog over at obscure hours of the day, only to leave them for Max to mind if she needed to get more cigarettes. She barely lasted three months before Max kicked her out. The second was another woman roughly Max’s age, but she was far too much of a partier for her liking. Max enjoyed having a good time, but listening to house beats whooping on the girl’s sound system all day long followed by parties three or four times a week while she was working night’s took its toll, and she ended that arrangement six months later. 

Finally, after another few months of living off Kraft Dinner and water, Max decided it was time to bring in another roommate. Thinking she simply had poor luck with women, she put up an ad asking for a male roommate, and a few weeks later a guy named Josh replied to her ad. She interviewed him, and was pleased to see he was a fellow grad student in his final year looking for a place to crash. It wasn’t a permanent solution to her rent problem, but he seemed fairly mellow and was ready to pay his first and last month’s rent, so she signed him on. They certainly got along better, sharing an interest in random internet humour and a love for French Toast Sundays, but he was incredibly sloppy. It was easy to overlook for a while, but after five months of picking up after him and attempting to get the message through in any way possible, Max had had enough. 

He was a good enough guy, but he had been late on rent once already and was a total slob, and she didn’t need that kind of stress. Summer was coming to an end, and with her new school term starting and her first semester as a teaching assistant looming on the horizon, she didn’t need to deal with bullshit back home. Her last ultimatum had been a week ago: clean up or get out. So far, the apartment looked as messy as ever, if not more, and he had his week to shape up. It was going to be difficult, because she actually liked the guy, but this wouldn’t be the first time she had kicked someone out, and she suspected it wouldn’t be the last. 

So, dressed to impress in an old college t-shirt and a pair of loose shorts, she found him sprawled out across his bed, laptop on his stomach with the sounds of some cartoon emanating from it. 

“Josh,” she started, leaning on the door frame with her arms folded, “I think we need to…” Max trailed off, detecting something in the air, and her eyes narrowed. “Why does it smell like smoke in here?”

He finally paused his show and set his laptop aside a little so that she could see his face. He shrugged. “It must be from my clothes.”

“You promised you wouldn’t smoke in the house!”

“It’s my clothes!” he reiterated. “You know I wouldn’t!”

“Right,” she sighed, rolling her eyes. That did it. She wasn’t going to just stand there while he lied to her. “Pack your stuff… I’m done with you living here.”

“What?”

“I told you that if you didn’t start cleaning your shit up, you’re moving out,” she informed him, “and here we are, and you still haven’t done anything. So… Pack your stuff and get out. Pretty sure Irma will back me up on this.”

Irma. Her landlady disliked Josh’s mess more than she did, and Max was fairly sure the older woman would have no issues getting some sort of paperwork together that would justify their reasons for kicking him out. 

“This is bullshit,” Josh grumbled as he sat up, running a hand through his shaggy blond hair. “You’re kicking me out right before the term starts again? Seriously, Max?”

“I can’t deal with you during the year,” she argued. “I’ll have enough on my plate, and I don’t need to be cleaning up after you all the time. Pack your stuff.”

“We signed a contract—"

“You already broke the contract last month when rent was late,” she told him plainly, her eyes traveling the walls of the small bedroom to assess any damages he might have caused on top of being a slob. “It’s null and void. Get out.”

“Okay, you don’t have to be a bitch about it,” he groaned, rolling his eyes as he started picking up random shirts and boxers. “I’ll come back for the furniture—"

“All of this is mine, actually,” Max countered as she watched his start shoving things in a backpack. “The bed, the desk, the bookshelf and the dresser are all mine and Irma’s, so it all stays.”

She continued to watch him dart around the room, gathering up clothes and papers and stuffing them into the bags they used for groceries. She could hear him muttering under his breath, but at this point she didn’t care. 

“I can help you pack the car,” she offered, but he shook his head. So, she turned back down the hall and decided to give him a bit of privacy as he packed up. 

It wasn’t a particularly big apartment, and when she had a roommate, they usually saw a lot of each other. The kitchen and living room consisted of one giant room with an island lined with barstools dividing the area. The kitchen appliances were fairly basic, and she had a mismatch of couches in front of a large television set that used to belong to her brother. There was only one other hallway, at the end of which was a bathroom that she normally shared with her roommate, and then bedrooms on either side. They were roughly equal in size, though hers was perhaps a smidgen larger. 

Max tucked her feet under her as she settled onto the couch, picking at her nails as she listened to him banging around in his room. Zippers were being zipped, bags thrown into the hallway, and she peered over the back of the couch to see him stalk down into the bathroom and return moments later with all of his stuff. It only took him two trips to put everything in his car, and she met him at the door on his way back in. 

“Throw the rest of it out, I don’t care,” he muttered as he unhooked the apartment’s key from his mass of others. “You know… It’s really fucking annoying that you never bought any of the dish soap but did dishes all the time, and when you clean to your shit music, I want to blow my brains out.” 

“Right,” she snorted, snatching the key from his hand and tucking it into her pocket. “Good luck with life, asshole.”

He grinned a little, and she wasn’t quite sure if he had been joking with her or not. Regardless, it was good to see him out, and since they weren’t friends, she wouldn’t have to interact with him again anytime soon. Good riddance. 

Max strolled back to her now empty room and wrinkled her nose. It was still a mess even with him gone, and it definitely stunk of smoke. She had nothing against smokers, but she didn’t want it seeping into the carpets and walls. They were on the bottom floor of the building; it was so easy to just step outside and have a smoke, and then come back in! She rolled her eyes. He had left his linens and a few cords, but otherwise he cleared out pretty quick. It was clear that he didn’t really have a lot of stuff to begin with, which made her wonder how he could be such a pig in his own space. The room clearly hadn’t been cleaned since he moved in, and she decided it would just be easier if she hired a company to come sort it out and clean. 

She grabbed her laptop from her room and sauntered back to the couch, plopping down and opening it up. First thing she did was check her finances. They had been relatively stable during the summer, but she knew tuition was going to be withdrawn soon, and her numbers would deplete extensively. Rent would follow shortly, and if she didn’t find someone to help her out, she’d be paying the entire thing on her own. Nibbling on her lower lip, she opened a new tab and began cruising for ads online for anyone renting in Masonville. 

It wasn’t an especially big town, but big enough to host a small college and an affiliate school. Both had roughly three thousand undergraduates between them, and about nine hundred graduate students. It was located in the north end of town, farther away from residential family homes, with the downtown core dividing them further. It had a fairly vibrant local culture, and it was definitely bigger than the place where she grew up, but nothing that would draw in serious renters. Most people looking were students, and around this time of the year, they were already sorted and settled into their rental units for the year. 

There weren’t any new requests for housing with the college website, so Max pulled up a Word document and typed one up. She was bound to reach more people if she placed a few ads up around campus and student hotspots. So, she pulled her lengthy brown hair up and into a messy bun with the elastic around her wrist, and then quickly typed up something that might catch people’s eye. 

_WANTED: Roommate to sublet room in two bedroom apartment  
Furnished. First month’s rent exempt. Must be neat._

Hmm. She searched through her files and produced the usual picture of the room that she used for ads, and went about making the page look a little more visually appealing. With that done, she added her contact information, sighed, and went to print it back in her room. 

She couldn’t believe she was doing this again… It felt like it was just yesterday she was writing up an ad for someone and Josh came along, and here was she in the same position a few months later. Were her standards impossible, or was she just picky? It was a question she thought to herself frequently over the course of her roommate adventures, but then she decided she wasn’t. She had a right to be comfortable in her own house, damn it!

Well, in Irma’s house, but her name was on the lease, so she had the seniority here! Christ. She watched the printer spit out a few sheets of paper with her ad on it, screeching and whining as it did. Once the ink had dried, she gathered them in a stack and grabbed her purse. Time to get them up: rent loomed ominously in the near future.


	2. Welcome to Masonville

He hated this place. Loki hated how much Thor adored the human race. He hated how they had triumphed over him with a band of mutants and a few specialized humans. He hated how small they were, how weak they were, how they had trembled beneath him once, and now barely looked twice at him as he stalked through the streets. At this very moment, he hated how sickeningly alike they were, and the fact that there was nothing he could do about it. 

Two days prior, Loki awoke in a crater somewhere in the woodlands of Earth. He felt shaken, tired, and it took a great deal of strength to draw himself up. It was quite plain that Odin had gone through with it, and on his word stripped Loki of his various hard-earned powers. It had taken years of his life to perfect his ability to control magic, his perception of the feelings and emotions of those around him, and to hone his body into a utility for fighting. Gone. All gone. 

His body ached as he stumbled through the forest, tripping here and there when it was dark. He had greater hunger and thirst than he had ever known, and would not have survived had he not been found by a man and his son while they were inspecting the property line of their land. They brought him in, fixed him up, gave him new clothes, and his woman fed Loki enough to make him burst. They were a family of modest means, and yet they sought to give him to best comfort they had. The boy slept on the couch while Loki had his bed, and the woman was ever so kind whenever he asked for something else to eat or drink. His body felt insatiable, as though he hadn’t actually eaten anything in years. Was this what it was like to be human? Was this what it felt like to live in mortal flesh? It was so easily frayed; he had cut his finger on the edge of a sheet of paper, and sat stewing in his own rage as it bled relentlessly, not healing until he covered it with something. 

He hated their kindness, this family of rural workers. Peasants. They had little idea how close he had come to enslaving all of them, handing them over to a greater race who would cow them into submission with pain and brutality. Instead, there was nothing. These people carried on living in their rural home, barely aware of the rest of the world let alone his previously godly status. 

Now, he wasn’t an idiot. He wouldn’t turn away charity because of his pride, particularly in his vulnerable state. So, he accepted their hospitality for a night, and was then given a lift into the nearest ‘big’ town at his request. They arrived at a place called Masonville: puny, pathetic, and crawling with young adults. He deduced based on the accent and mannerisms that he had found himself somewhere back in America, but this was a far cry from New York. What he would have given to be in the moderately architecturally brilliant Germany once more; instead, he found himself staring at the county’s largest wooden bear carving riddled with bright graffiti. His rescuer explained that it was a college town, and it was about the time of year that all the students started to filter back in. Loki listened politely as the car rattled along the shoddily paved street, but he had a million other thoughts on his mind. 

Odin had informed him how to get his powers back – he needed to come to appreciate the human race. It seemed quite simple, but as he stepped out of his rescuer’s beaten up vehicle in this tiny town and looked around at the pathetic people milling about, he realized this was going to be a harder task than he previously thought. How was he supposed to appreciate a race of beings that were so small? They had no natural powers of their own, and none of the people in his immediate vicinity could compare to Natasha Romanov, that bow-carrying Clint fellow, or even the retort-wielding S.H.I.E.L.D agent he murdered. No, they were all so ordinary, so boring… and Loki was one of them now. Ugh. He wanted to vomit right there on the sidewalk. 

Once he was alone, Loki stood still, clad in a ridiculous pair of ill-fitted jeans and a short-sleeved shirt – bright red – and realized he was finally out of his element. He had gone to worlds beyond the realms, and yet here, without any of his powers, he was a complete mess. As he strolled along the street, irritated that the sneakers didn’t quite fit his feet right, he mentally went through a list of what he would need to do in order to survive here. First, he needed funds to purchase goods with. He had set up an account on his previous trip to Midgard, but obviously he had zero access to it currently. That would be the first step – access to money. There wasn’t much saved, but he knew it would be sufficient to get him away from this ridiculous town. 

Unfortunately, the town had two different banking institutions, and Loki had zero clue as to where his funds were stored. So, he essentially flipped a coin in his head and chose one of them, hoping that he would be able to charm his way through this ordeal. A little bell tolled once he was through the door, announcing his arrival, and he stalked up to the nearest open register to speak with someone. 

“Hey, pal, there’s a line…”

He glanced back over his shoulder and saw three people standing in a neat row, an elderly man glaring at him from the front. Was he serious? Loki could have pounded him into the ground a day ago, and now he had to smile and wait his turn at the end of a line? Jaw clenched, he stalked to the end and waited, arms crossed, death glares at the back of everyone’s head as the line moved at a glacial pace. Really, they didn’t have more than one person manning the stations? 

Fifteen minutes later, his rage at its boiling point, and Loki finally found himself speaking to someone directly. 

“What can I help you with today, sir?”

He appraised the woman behind the counter quickly: plump, lipstick a shade too dark, and hair that looked as though Thor had electrocuted her. Odin… How was he supposed to take anyone on this planet seriously?

“Hello there,” he peered at her nametag quickly, “Eleanor. I am not from around here, and I’ve opened an American bank account previously, but I can’t access it at the moment.”

“Oh, are you visiting from England?” she asked, her eyes sparkling a little as she held out her hand. “Just give me your debit card and we’ll get it all sorted out for you.”

He blinked twice, and then cleared his throat, producing what he hoped would be a charming smile. “You see, my … debit card has been stolen. My room was broken into, and I’m missing a lot of important documents.”

“Oh, hun, have you called the police?”

“I… No, no, it’s not important,” Loki continued, in no mood to get sidetracked. “I was hoping I might just be able to give you my name and you could retrieve something that might give me access.”

“Well, if you’re with us,” she started, clacking away at a keyboard, eyes flickering over an ancient looking piece of computer technology, “I can bring you up in the system and issue you a new card. Can I see some I.D?”

“My documents were stolen.”

“I understand,” she told him, “but I can’t just give out bank information. I need to see something with your name on it.”

“It’s under Erik Selvig,” Loki insisted, leaning around as he tried to see her screen. “I assure you that’s who I am.”

“I don’t think you’re a liar,” the woman told him. “You’ve got that nice, honest look about you… I’m good at guessing that.” Apparently not. “However, I need some identification. It’s policy.”

Loki stared at her, hard, and wished he had just a smidgen of his power left. He could have intimidated her, or simply persuaded her to issue him a card through the use of his empathy. However, she merely stared back, solid on her stance, and he knew this was going to require more patience than ever. 

“Can I speak with someone who has a little more authority in this institution?”

“I can grab my manager,” she informed him, her tone a little stiffer than before. “Give me a minute.”

Four hours later, Loki departed from the ridiculous bank ready to throttle someone. The manager had been no more help than that ridiculous woman was, but he did have a few options for Loki. He couldn’t bring up the name without any identification, but he did direct Loki next door to a place that manufactured identification cards. Loki had to fill out about ten forms with false information, and then sit for a picture and wait for it to be printed up on some stupid card. He realized after that he had ‘Loki Odinson’ printed on the card, not Eric Selvig, but that would hardly matter. 

He instead went to the other bank with his new identification in hand, ready to find his money, only to learn – shockingly – that there was no Loki Odinson in their system. Two hours later, he left the bank with a credit card of his own, which he learned was technically the bank’s money, but he certainly didn’t care. He would be off this planet before there were any repercussions for his actions: that much was clear. There wasn’t more than two thousand dollars on the account, but he decided that would be enough to get him somewhere in this country where actual technology existed, and he could go from there. 

However, after that horrible ordeal with the banking system, he was absolutely famished. He couldn’t have eaten more than a few hours prior, but he was starving already. This human body was pathetic. So, he made a detour to what appeared to be an eatery of some kind, clean and full of booths and old men with steaming cups of liquid. He sidled into a booth, his new credit card on the table in front of him, and then plucked up a menu from between the salt and pepper shaker. 

“Can I start you off with a coffee?”

Loki flinched at the appearance of a young waitress; it took a highly skilled person to sneak up on him before, and now he was startled by the slightest of things. He looked her over once: small, blonde, chewing gum. 

“Yes, please,” he replied, watching her scribble something on a pad of paper. “Do you have something I might be able to read?”

He’d need something to pass the time. She glanced up at him, and then grinned, her cheeks tinting a little. “I’ll bring you the paper. Take your time with the menu.”

Well, it was good to know he still had an effect on some kinds of people, even if it only consisted of teen girls. He smiled a smile he hoped came off as charming once more, and she flitted off to fetch him a newspaper and his drink. When she returned, he asked her for the breakfast special, as it was the biggest thing on the menu, and she made some flip comment about him having a big appetite. He smiled in return, but was already engrossed with the story on the front page. They had reported on the crater he left in his wake upon arrival to Midgard. His eyes quickly skimmed the article, pleased with himself; he was clearly the biggest thing to happen to this town in a century. 

He honed in on something near the end of the article, reading feverishly. An expert from Earth’s space department had been called in to investigate the crater, as many believe it came from some sort of space debris. Space. An expert. This expert would then deliver his findings to a professor at the local college, another researcher from the space program, who would analyze the data. Finally, there was someone around here who spoke his language! Perhaps he could get in touch with the space department through that man, and then… somehow… get himself back into space. 

Loki sighed irritably. It was a long-shot at best, but perhaps one he should risk taking. If he went to a large city, somewhere like New York or Washington, he ran the risk of being identified by someone from the Avengers, or any other group that was affiliated with them. From there, he could be arrested, and with no power to protect himself, he may end up in an Earth prison before his sentence here was finished. They had no right to lock him away, obviously, but who would listen to him? No one would believe this, right here, was his actual punishment from the All-Father. They would all want their revenge. 

Perhaps it was best if he remained in this tiny town for a little while longer. It wouldn’t hurt him to have an ally who was in touch with Earth’s space station – that was to be his new quest. From there, he would see about finding a top scientist to find a way to subvert Odin’s magic – a daunting task – and then get away from this planet to plan his next move. Yes. It was brilliant!

He jumped again when the little waitress reappeared. 

“Twitchy,” she laughed, setting three plates down in front of him. “Can I get you anything else?”

Loki eyed the runny eggs, the slightly under-toasted bread, and the greasy bacon, hating the way his stomach roared victoriously. 

“No, that’s fine,” he told her, his coffee still untouched. A thought struck him. “Wait.”

She was back in a flash, a warm smile on her face, and he pointed to the name of the college researcher in the paper. “I need to speak with him. Where do you think I might find him?”

The girl leaned down, examining the page, and then said, “Oh, you should just go to St. Judith’s and find his office. I bet you wouldn’t even need an appointment.”

“St. Judith’s?”

“Yeah, that’s the college,” she explained, her eyes darting down at the space beside him on the bench. _Do not sit down, wench_. “I can give you directions if you want?”

“Yes, please, thank you,” Loki agreed. She flitted off to grab him a map, and he couldn’t resist digging into the horrible food in front of him. The presentation was atrocious, but it was actually quite divine tasting. Perhaps that was why business remained so strong. By the time she returned, he had already polished off half of his bacon and most of his eggs, his mouth full as she slid onto the seat across from him. 

“Okay, so here’s the route I would take…”

He watched her pen draw a line from their location up to the marked college; it was a straight line. She could have just told him to up the road. He feigned some sort of interest as he continued to eat, more interested in the toppings for his toast than what she was saying. 

“Will you be in town for a bit?”

“What?”

She repeated his question as he swallowed his most recent mouthful, and he cleared his throat, nodding. “For a little while, yes.”

“Maybe you can take me out for a drink sometime…”

“Maybe not.”

He watched her face fall at the immediate rejection, and he felt no desire to coddle her. However, he also knew it wouldn’t be good to make a list of enemies here too, so he leaned a little closer. “You just seem a little young. Find me in a few years… Oh, and take this.”

He handed her his credit card, unsure of what to do with it himself, and he noticed she had perked up a little bit. She slid out of the booth and disappeared. Loki retrieved the map and gave it a once over. This town was miniscule. It could fit in Asgard ten times over with room to spare! The college campus appeared to take up the majority of the north end, which meant it might be a tad difficult to find this professor, but he was sure he would get there eventually. 

When the waitress circled back with his credit card, he shoved it in his pocket and quickly devoured the remainder of his meal. Shockingly, he was still hungry by the end of it, but not enough to get him sidetracked from his assignment. Once he was back outside, he wrinkled his nose, glaring up at the sun and the heat it produced. It must have still been the summer season; when he had his powers, he wasn’t this affected by the change in weather, but from the slightly cooler morning to the heated afternoon, he found himself incredibly uncomfortable in his borrowed jeans. He noticed most of the men were in much shorter pants, at least up to their knee, and he realized that was the way to go. It certainly didn’t help that his hair was down around his neck, trapping in the heat as he walked. 

Focus. He couldn’t become distracted with petty mortal feelings this early on in the game, though he did manage to steal a pair of sandal-type shoes from a shop’s display as he walked. They certainly felt much better than the sneakers, which he left discarded on the sidewalk. He followed the pen markings on the map, occasionally stopping whenever a human car honked at him while he was halfway across the street. Couldn’t they see he was on a mission? He barely paid them any attention, especially when he spotted a sign. 

St. Judith’s College for Liberal Arts and Science. What a mouthful. It took him less than a half an hour or so to walk the entire length of the town, and Loki soon found himself surveying this college. The campus was quite green with teenagers milling about. People on two-wheeled vehicles cycled by, and groups of students sprawled across the lawns. He wasn’t sure if they were in school now or not, but that was hardly his concern. He needed to find this professor and charm him into a friendship as soon as possible. 

However, as he stood on the campus, he was at a loss for where to go. There were signs everywhere to all sorts of buildings, but none of them were going to say the man’s name on it. He eventually decided to head for the Information Building under the assumption that they might have something useful to tell him. He stepped through the doorway and into the cool building, wiping a bit of sweat from his forehead, and then quickly took in his surroundings. Ugly colour on the wall, tile floors, and several prominent offices on the first floor. Loki opted for the one that was empty rather than the ones filled with groups of young people. 

There was an older woman seated behind a desk, papers scattered everywhere, and a few empty chairs in front of her desk. 

“Can I help you with something?” she asked as she clicked around on her computer, barely looking in his direction. His eyes narrowed at his insignificance, but he pushed through, needing only a new set of directions. 

“I need to speak with Edgar Ludwick,” he explained. “Can you direct me to where I might find him?”

“He’s usually in the biology department,” she told him as he finally looked away from the computer, “but he’s gone to New York for the weekend. Do you have your student card?”

“My what?” Loki asked, “No, I’m not a student here.”

“Oh,” she looked him up and down once. “Well, he’ll only make appointments with students and faculty members. Bit of a private man. You’ll have to find another way to make an appointment with him.”

She returned her attention to the computer, completely dismissive in body language, and Loki felt his rage intensify. He may not have the strength of a god at this very moment, but he was sure he could pick up a chair and smash her face in with what little human power he had. He needed to be a student or a worker at this school to see this man – how absurd. 

“So,” he started, his voice tense, “how does one become a student at this institution?”

“Admissions office is across the hall,” she told him, pointing to the office brimming with young people. “They’ll have your application. If you’d like to start this September, it’s due by the end of the week.”

“What-“

“You can direct all your questions to admissions.” 

Ridiculous sow. 

He stormed out of the office and across the hall, placing himself at the end of another very long line. Loki didn’t surface again for another two hours, a overabundance of information floating around in his head.

He had sat down with a very patient gentleman at one of three desks, who explained the admissions process. They needed some high school transcript, but Loki formulated a convincing enough lie explaining he had gone to high school ten years earlier, and it seemed unlikely they still had his files. The man then told him he would need to do an aptitude test to assess his skill level, which was now booked for later in the afternoon. He needed to fill out his admission package, which seemed like a lot of paperwork, but he was assured it was easier than it appeared. The man spoke to him as though he was some timid creature creeping back from the wild to attend this esteemed college, which was also infuriating. 

The man had also informed him that all the student residences were currently full, and he would need to find a place to live off-campus. He directed him to a board on the second floor, and Loki stood in front of it, application in hand, bright blue eyes wandering the sea of flyers. Most of them were for single bedrooms in already established houses, and he noticed people ripped the snippets of contact information off the bottom. There were only a few with pictures, and Loki zeroed in on one with a furnished bedroom already. 

_WANTED: Roommate to sublet room in two bedroom apartment_  
Furnished. First month's rent exempt. Must be  neat.  
Please contact Max for further details – 564-753-2159 

He ripped off this Max’s contact information, along with a few others ones, and decided he would deal with that tomorrow. He had two thousand dollars to spend, and about fifteen hundred of it was going toward becoming a student at this terribly tiny, insignificant school. However, if he needed to pay a little here and there in order to get in touch with a space researcher, who could then get him connected to the right people elsewhere, he’d do it. Besides, it’s not like he actually needed to attend classes or do anything that a student would do – he just needed an in.

* * *

Max jumped when she felt her phone vibrate in the pocket of her shorts, and she hastily pulled it out to answer it. She always felt awkward whenever her phone went off in public, even if she was doing something as mundane as grocery shopping. The number that flashed across the screen wasn’t something she recognized, but it was an area code from town, so she answered. After all, she had posted her phone number around town two weeks ago, and she had been getting a lot of random calls from prospective roommates. 

“Hello?”

She kept her voice down, ignoring the look a pair of teen girls gave her from down the aisle. Fuck off. If she wanted to talk on her phone, she could!

“Hi, can I speak to… Max?”

The voice on the other end was a man with an English accent, and Max swallowed thickly, immediately interested. “Yeah, this is she.”

“Max?”

“Yup.” A silence followed on the other end, and she leaned down on the handle of her cart. “Still there?”

“Yes,” he replied. “I’d like to have a look at your room for rent, if it’s still available?”

So far, everyone that had come to look at it were creeps, so yes, yes it was still open. 

“Yeah, it won’t last long, but I guess you can come by.” That was the better answer. She didn’t want to seem overly desperate, despite the fact she was. She scratched at the back of her head, fingers digging through her bun to get at an itchy spot. “I’m at 15 Elms Drive, number two unit on the first floor. When are you free?”

“Whenever,” he told her. “I’m seeing a few other places tomorrow morning… Why don’t I come see yours around two?”

She nodded her head, despite the fact that he couldn’t see her, and then grinned, “Yeah, sounds great. You got a name?”

“I do.”

She rolled her eyes. “So can I have it?”

“Loki. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She almost cracked a joke at the unfortunateness of that name, but he had already hung up.


	3. Hey, I just met you

“Honey, I’m not sure if I like you having strange men over to look at the bedroom… Couldn’t you make sure you had a friend over while they were there?”

“Mom,” Max sighed as she straightened out a cushion, glaring at her cell phone on the kitchen island. Her mother’s voice was a little crackly on speaker, but aside from that it was like she was actually standing there to lecture her. “I can handle myself. Irma knows I’m going to call at the end of the day to let her know that I’ve found someone… or if I haven’t. So if I don’t call, you know she’ll come looking.”

Ahh, Irma. The woman had become the voice of reason for just about every housing dispute she had with everyone. The elderly landlord had been a constant in her life since she started renting from her a few years back, and at this point she felt like family. Well, family that had the ability to throw her out on the street if she didn’t have any money for rent. The woman was a gem, but she still needed to have a reliable tenant. All that aside, whenever her name came up in a conversation with either of her parents, it always seemed to mellow out any impending wave of trouble that was coming her way. Irma came to her rescue on a number of occasions, yet the older woman had no idea just how crucial she was to solving Max’s parental insecurities about her living on her own. 

“Well…” her mother trailed off, and she could vaguely hear her dad shouting something from the background. “All right, all right, I’ll ask… Your dad wants to know if you’ve still got the baseball bat he bought you.”

“Yup, right next to my bed,” Max insisted, hands on her hips as she surveyed her obnoxiously neat apartment. 

Seriously, it was like she was selling the place, not looking for a roommate. However, after the first few girls commented that her apartment seemed a little messy, she went about making sure she could keep it in better condition for the remainder of the week. It was now Saturday, and she had entertained stuck-up women, creepy men, and a few people that seemed somewhere between; none of them had done a thing for her yet. She wasn’t about to kick out one roommate and then replace him with someone worse, so she was being pretty picky this time around. 

“And you know what to do with that bat if he tries to get fresh with you?”

“Mom!” Max groaned, running her hands through her shoulder-length brown hair, wincing when she hit a tangle amongst the waves. “Can you stop with that! Not every guy out there is sniffing around to rape someone.”

“Well, I read on the internet the other day--"

“Can you try not to believe everything you read on the internet?” she asked as she sauntered back toward her kitchen island, leaning against it as she spoke, “A lot of stuff on there is hard to prove. So just… Calm down, okay?”

“You know it’s because I care, honey.”

“Yeah, I know,” she sighed, glancing at the clock above the stove. Almost two in the afternoon. 

Her final roommate option for the week was supposed to be here within the next few minutes, and if he didn’t work out, she had to call Irma and tell her she couldn’t find someone. From there, the older woman insisted she would search for a replacement, but Max didn’t necessarily want her fifty year old landlord sorting out her new living partner, and would prefer if it could be left in her hands. 

“Mom, I have to go,” she said suddenly. “He’ll be here soon.”

“Text me how it goes,” her mom insisted, and Max rolled her eyes for the final time. 

“Yup, will do.”

“I love you!”

“I love you too,” she replied automatically. “Talk soon.”

“Bye! Your dad says bye!”

“Bye,” Max groaned, hastily reaching for the disconnect button before the woman could say anything else. 

She loved her parents, but sometimes they could get a little paranoid about her living by herself in what they considered a ‘big city’. Masonville was not a big city. That wasn’t to say crime didn’t happen in a small town, but in all the years she had been at St. Judith’s for school, she had heard about one robbery at a liquor store by a couple of teens: nothing serious. So, while her mom’s worry was always coming from a good spot, it was at the point where she found it incredibly annoying and preferred to tune it out. 

Another quick glance at the clock. She pursed her lips and quickly darted back to the bathroom, checking herself over in the mirror. There wasn’t any reason that she was nervous for meeting with her two o’clock appointment other than the fact he sounded good looking on the phone. Bit of a stupid observation, yes, but she had a thing for accents, and how often did a British one croon at her through the phone in Masonville? Never. Well, maybe croon was a little strong of a word, but she had a feeling he could sound delicious saying something as boring as ‘toast’ or ‘pie’. With that in mind, she wasn’t sure if she wanted some guy who made her nervous living with her, because that could possibly make for an uncomfortable living situation too. 

So, she hadn’t necessarily dressed up for him, but at least she showered that morning and shaved her legs. She felt a little silly in her denim shorts and checkered t-shirt, but at least she looked half-decent. It was summer, which meant it was the time for baggy shorts and t-shirts that had no shape to them; no one was in Masonville during the summer, which meant there was no one there to judge her, and therefore she could spend a few months looking like a complete slob if she wasn’t working. Unwashed hair, unshaven legs, and the same pair of shorts for six days in a row was totally justifiable during the summer. However, if some hot guy was coming to her apartment, she figured she might as well put a little effort in. 

Hey, she was in denim, okay, so shut up. She glared up at her brain, which was currently spewing her mother’s voice that she ought to cover up her long legs, but this wasn’t the 1930s, and she considered the length of her shorts fairly conservative at midway down her thigh. Acceptable, she decided as she studied herself in the mirror, just acceptable. Mascara was usually the extent of her make-up routine, and occasionally some sort of concealer if she had a random pimple wreak havoc on her skin – usually on her chin area. Otherwise, she was barefaced as usual, and her hair wasn’t chucked up in the normal bun, but instead loose around her shoulders. Acceptable once again. 

The knock at the front door made her jump, and she hastily hurried down the hallway, pausing only for a second to give the room a once over. She had cleaned out all of Josh’s shit in a day or so with the help of a friend, and had been Febreezing the living daylights out of that room ever since. The window was constantly open to get the smell wafted out, and once it was clean, she thought it actually looked really presentable. It wasn’t much of a room, but you couldn’t expect a room that would fit a king sized bed in a two bedroom apartment: never going to happen, especially for a student. 

Max came to a halt at the door and took a breath to compose herself, and then quickly opened the door. Oh, fuck, he was hot. Standing before her now was a tall man, at least six feet compared to her five seven, with black hair swept back into a small ponytail and bright blue-green eyes. He had a pair of sunglasses on his head, a dark green t-shirt beneath, a pair of khaki shorts, and flip-flops to finish it off. 

He smiled a little, which made her reel her lower jaw back up, and she quickly cleared her throat. “Hi, Loki, right?”

Was she saying that correctly? She hadn’t ever met anyone with that sort of name; pretty much everything around here was all-American and simple, and that was the way most people liked it. 

“Yes, hi,” he replied, that familiar, smooth, accented voice making her stomach knot uncomfortably. “Max, was it?”

“Yeah,” she held out her hand, which he shook quickly. “Sorry, didn’t mean to make you just stand there… Come on in.”

She quickly stepped to the side to let him enter, and then shut the door behind him. He stood in the middle of the living room, taking in the sights around him, and Max felt a little bit awkward just watching him judge her apartment. 

“So, this is the common area,” she explained, gesturing between the kitchen, its island, and the television area. “Pretty much everything here is shared, along with the bathroom.”

“Right…” he trailed off, squinting a little at her television set-up. Normally people were asking things at this point about cable and internet and those extra costs, but he was remarkably quiet. “This seems fine.”

“Good,” Max said brightly, stepping around him and marching toward the small hallway that led to the bedrooms. “Your room would be down here.”

He followed her down the dark hallway, and she stood in her bedroom doorway, which was directly opposite his in the hall, and then pointed in with her arm. She watched him move inside and examine the room from a point in the middle, making a full circle and then disappearing from her view to possibly have a look in the closet or out the small window. 

God, he was good looking. She wasn’t sure if she could even take him now, because she was going to spend at least a month not dressing like a grub because he was so attractive, and she wanted to spend a day in disgusting clothes, damn it! 

“You said there was a bathroom?”

Max flinched as his sudden reappearance, clearly too lost in her own thoughts about his physicality to notice he had finished looking at the room. She nodded quickly, hoping she covered that as smoothly as possible, and then gestured down the hall. “Yeah, just down there… We share it, but there’s enough space for two. I’ve never had a problem before, anyway.”

The man poked his head inside for a second or so, and then turned back to face her. “Fine. When can I move in?”

She blinked a few times, surprised that he was so candid about wanting the place. “Oh, well…”

“Do you have other people interested?” he asked, taking a step toward her. She didn’t, but she definitely didn’t want to let him know just how desperate she was. However, she didn’t really need to reel him in, or anything, because he clearly wanted to sublet the room, and she had nothing to hold over him. 

“Oh, a few,” she told him. “Why don’t we just chat quickly first?”

“About what?”

“Uh,” she started, stepping out of her doorway and heading back toward the living room, “I just need to know you aren’t a serial killer. You know, standard stuff.” 

He seemed to have no objections to a few questions, and Max took a seat at one end of the island on a barstool. Loki stood at the other end, his hands clasped behind his back. 

“So, where are you from?”

* * *

After Loki had filled out the application for that ridiculous school, he handed it in to the admissions office, a signature on the bottom of it that indicated all the information was correct. Naturally, almost everything was a lie, but they had no way of proving it, so he wasn’t concerned. They had his new banking information to bill him for everything, and from the calibre of idiocy he heard in the admissions office, he was guaranteed a spot as soon as they read his answers. The aptitude test followed late in the afternoon, and while he was at a bit of a loss for anything pertaining to American history and whatnot, he was sure he passed with shining colours when it came to the arithmetic and scientific issues. If anything, that was the department he needed to get into in order to converse with this Ludwick character regarding the space program. 

When he had finished with all that nonsense, he hadn’t the slightest clue what to do with himself. He eventually wandered back to the diner where he had eaten breakfast, and the same waitress was working. In need of a little advice for how to dress to blend with the rest of the humans in this tiny town, he asked if she could take him somewhere to buy new clothes. He argued that fashions were different in England, and he didn’t feel as though he fit in. She was, of course, thrilled to have his company, and even asked her little boss if she could leave early to show a friend around. The girl, Grace, dragged him around to a few different shops, forcing him to try on various shirts and shorts, each time personally checking to see if they fit right, running her small hands of his torso just to be sure. He would have been flattered by the attention if she wasn’t sixteen, and he did the polite thing when they were finished – he walked her home and left her at the front door with a pat on the arm, nothing more. 

He had no need to be polite, no need to be civil, but he did so anyway. Perhaps if Odin saw him really making the effort – as he knew the All-Father was always watching – he might slowly relinquish some of Loki’s former power as an incentive. However, he wasn’t going to go so far as to indulge in a young girl’s fantasies simply because he could; he certainly didn’t need his power to know what she was thinking. She picked a sufficient amount of clothing for him, all of which he charged to the bank, along with a bag to hold it all in. Once he had dropped her off, he checked himself into a motel on the outskirts of town and slept on a horribly hard bed for a few hours that night. 

He woke up angry – angry at how ordinary he felt, about his lack of strength, and about his sore feet from all the walking the day before. He managed to shrug it off just long enough to get himself ready and grab some breakfast at the motel, but he knew it would come back to gnaw at him sometime when he was alone again. The anger was so rooted now that he wondered if it would become a part of his character. 

When he had finished some sort of morning routine, Loki prepared himself for the rest of the day, which would consist of visiting a few residences around town that could possibly turn into his temporary home. He had found several advertisements from the day before that interested him, and he used a payphone at the college to contact all the advertisers to arrange for a showing. Shockingly, most were willing to have him come by the following day, which meant they must have been desperate for someone to take the room. All of them except one were in basement apartments, and Loki immediately knew that he would dislike living underground after he went through the first showing. However, he dragged himself to each and every one, stiffly nodding and eyeing what those people called a bedroom with a skeptical gaze. 

Every single home he went to seemed to assume that he was going to take their bedroom, and they immediately launched into discussions about when he could move in and how much things would cost. Eager humans were irritating humans, and Loki merely smiled and told them he wasn’t interested. The final living space he intended to look at was with a woman named Max. He initially thought he would be seeing a man, given the name and whatnot, yet a woman answered the phone professing to be Max, so he went with what he had been given. 

She was a pretty little thing, despite her unfortunate name, and when she greeted him at the door, she almost seemed a little stunned to see him. He worried she might turn into a jabbering child, but once the initial shock wore off, she was a courteous hostess who showed off her apartment that was not underground, thankfully, and let him explore the spare bedroom. It wasn’t much, and he didn’t particularly like that they would be sharing so much of the eating area and the lavatory, but it would be fine for his purpose here. He didn’t need a palace, but rather a place close to the college to rest his head.

However, when he asked how soon he could move in, he was a little annoyed that she did not immediately accept his offer. Instead, she wanted to ‘talk’ about things, which could never lead to anything good. The first question that came up when they squared off in the kitchen revolved around where he hailed from, which made Loki cringe, but he was determined to give her just enough to satisfy her curiosity, and assure her he wasn’t a ‘serial killer’, as she so wonderfully put it. 

Oh, if she only knew. 

“I’m from England,” he lied. Everyone seemed to think that was where he was from anyway, so it was probably the easiest thing to answer. She nodded, fiddling with a cellular device on the countertop. 

“Cool,” she said, “and you’re here for college?”

“Yes.”

“Graduate work?”

He frowned, having absolutely no idea what she was talking about. That didn’t seem like something he could fib over quite as easily, and he shook his head. “No, this is… my first year of college.”

“You’re an undergrad?” she asked, her eyebrows shooting up. “How old are you?”

Oh, what had he written on that application? In actuality, Loki was quite old indeed, and he could no longer accurately gauge the age of humans, aside from the little teen girl from the night before. She took his silence as discomfort, and she cleared her throat. “Sorry, rude question… I just… You look a little old to be an undergraduate.”

“How old are you?” he inquired, quirking an eyebrow. 

“Twenty-six.”

“Well, so am I,” he lied, shooting her a smile. “What a happy coincidence.” 

“Yeah,” she sighed, clearly relieved that she hadn’t offended him. “So what made you choose St. Judith’s? It’s a long way from England…”

Oh, this was going to take all afternoon. At least she wasn’t entirely awkward, and he was sure he would be able to make conversation with her whenever they were home at the same time. 

“I want to study under Professor Ludwick,” Loki told him, which was a half-truth. 

“What does he teach?”

Fuck. He thought back quickly to his previous conversation with that tart at the school, and then recalled something. “Biology.”

“Oh, I see,” she laughed. “Yeah, see, I was an art student in my undergrad… Pretty far from anything science-y.”

“And what are you doing now?” he asked, more for the sake of the conversation than anything.

“I’m a third year grad student,” Max replied, scratching the back of her neck. “I’m doing Museum Studies right now… Sort of… trying to tie my art degree into something I can use.”

“Right.”

“I’m also a T.A. for an undergrad intro course, so maybe I’ll see you on campus,” she chuckled, nodding her head a few times. “Have you made your schedule yet?”

“No,” he replied, resting his hands now on the countertop between them, “but I only just finished my application yesterday. I suspect it will take a few days to process, and then… I’ll… do the... schedule.”

“I bet it seems a bit random,” she laughed, rolling her eyes. “I mean, I know the British school system is so different, so if you don’t get something, just ask me. It’s a lot easier than it seems.”

“Does that mean I can ask you as your non-serial killer roommate?” Loki inquired, leaning forward on the table and smiling a wide grin. Much to his pleasure, she blushed a little, clearly thrown by his forwardness, and then nodded. His grin grew, and he tapped the countertop. “Excellent. Should I sign something? I can be in within the day.”

“Wow,” she said, “that’s really fast.”

“Well, I’m living in a motel at the moment,” he informed her, “and I’d rather be here, I assure you.”

“Sure, yeah, that makes total sense,” Max agreed, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I mean, if you’re ready, I can have your contract emailed to me tonight and you can sign it when you move in tomorrow.”

“Excellent.”

He knew he would get his way. He could have moved in tonight, as the thought of spending one more night in that hotel on that hard bed was not something he wanted. However, there were still a few things he would need to pick up before he settled in somewhere, and he had the rest of the afternoon to do it. 

“That was so much easier than I thought it would be,” she told him as she rose from her chair, following him as he marched toward the door. He turned back to face her, and she nearly ended up running into him, which made her smile awkwardly. “Uhm, so, thanks for being normal. As long as you’re not a total slob, I think we’ll get along just fine.”

“Glad to hear it,” he murmured, holding out his hand once again. This seemed to be the thing humans did when they greeted one another, so it was starting to become habit. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” she said, gripping his hand firmly enough. “Yeah, sounds good.”

They exchanged a smile one last time before Loki ducked out of the apartment, shutting the door softly behind him. There, one thing accomplished. He realized his punishment was all about taking little steps in order to free himself from it. Each small step led to the overall goal, and this was simply one step taken and handled well; hopefully, the rest would fall in line just as easily.


	4. 21 Raccoons

Max couldn’t believe how quickly she had managed to secure her roommate. This Loki character seemed fairly intent on moving in, and within two minutes of their chat yesterday he had somehow got her nodding along to him being her roommate. She didn’t think too much about it, mostly because he wasn’t a creep, he had been polite enough to answer a few questions, and she wasn’t getting a weird vibe off him that she had felt with some of the other options she saw during the week. All in all, if Loki stayed the way he was now, she had a feeling she might be able to get through one year of graduate school with the same roommate. She wasn’t going to say too much about it, because she didn’t want to jinx anything, but the feelings were good. 

Once Loki left the afternoon before, she immediately called Irma to tell her the good news. Her landlady was equally pleased that she had found someone to share the rent burden with, and emailed over copies of the subletter’s lease for him to sign when he returned the following day. Apparently, he was living in a motel somewhere in town up until he found a place, which was pretty depressing. She couldn’t imagine moving to a foreign place, and then spending the first few days in a motel with no one around for comfort. He didn’t mention any friends or family in the area, only a desire to study biology with one of the teacher’s at the college. If he did have any friends, he would have stayed with them, which Max then deduced it meant he was here absolutely alone. 

Max couldn’t imagine being in a new place alone. Most of her friends migrated to the nearest college, St. Judith’s, with her once they finished high school, which meant she had a plethora of friends there to begin with, lost some and made more over the course of her time in Masonville. Therefore, as she sat in front of her television that night, stuffing popcorn in her mouth and watching a rerun of Project Runway, she made a vow to be as friendly and helpful toward her new roommate as possible. She wanted him to have a positive experience while he was here. For herself, Max wanted to finally be friends with one of her roommate’s and give the relationship a bit of longevity. 

So, that morning, she was up early and ready to help him move his stuff in, despite the fact she had no idea when he planned to show up. Clad in a college t-shirt and a fitted pair of shorts – he was still ridiculously attractive, don’t forget – Max printed his lease and pinned it to the fridge with a magnet. And then waited. And waited. She waited for most of the day, lollygagging around on the internet and in front of the TV, constantly checking outside to see if he was waiting. Sometimes she thought she heard a knock, but when she popped over to the door, she found no one standing on the other side. He hadn’t given her a time, but she thought he might like to get an early start on the day. 

However, five o’clock rolled around and he still wasn’t there, and she started to wonder if he decided that he didn’t actually want the place. After all, he didn’t sign anything last night, and he had no obligation to return except for the fact that he had given her ‘his word’ that he would move in. It was around this time that she started to feel a little bit stupid; what if he wasn’t coming back, and she had spent all this time waiting for him like an idiot? Thankfully, she wasn’t left to stew in those thoughts for too long after she started to think them, because just as her usual dinner-cooking shows started to flicker on, she heard a solid knock at the door. 

Finally! She rolled her eyes a little as she pushed herself off the couch, doing a little skip as she crossed the room to the door. Sure enough, Loki stood on the other side, a smile on his lips, green eyes up to meet hers immediately. 

“Hey,” she greeted, hanging onto the door as she opened it for him. “Welcome home.”

“Thank you.” He grinned, a bag thrown over his shoulder and a suitcase in his other hand. “I hope you weren’t waiting for me or anything… I planned to come a lot earlier, but I spent most of today buying things.”

“Oh, no, no,” she lied, waving it off as he stepped inside. “I had a lazy TV day, so yeah… No big deal.”

The wheels of his suitcase rumbled noisily as he rolled them across the hardwood floor, and she followed him toward the bedroom. 

“I’ve got your key made,” she told him. “It’s on the desk. I usually try to keep the door locked, especially when school starts up again… People tend to just be drunk and wander into random houses this time of year.”

“Can’t wait,” he chuckled, grabbing the shiny metal key and slipping it into his pocket. 

“So, do you need me to help move anything in?” she asked, curious to see if he had anything else with him aside from two bags. He glanced back over at her once he dropped his bag on the bed, and then shook his head. 

“No, this is my life in two bags right here,” Loki told her, nodding a few times. “I suppose I’ll need to buy more.”

“Well, yeah,” she laughed as she leaned against his door-frame, arms folded. “I mean, I’m sure you have your laptop and stuff with you, but you’ll have to get a printer and books… Maybe we can see if we can get some shelves in.”

“A what?”

“Shelves-“

“I heard that,” he insisted. “The laptop… I don’t have one of those.”

She stared at him blankly; everyone owned a laptop. If you didn’t, you had a desktop. Everyone who existed owned some form of computer technology, even her grandma. He sat on the edge of the bed, staring at her for a moment, and then shrugged sheepishly. 

“I’m not really into a lot of technology,” he admitted. “We… We always had one family… device that everyone used.”

“Okay, uhm….” She trailed off, not really sure what he was going to do without one. “Well, you can do stuff on mine until you buy one.”

“Thanks.”

He zipped open the bag and began removing clothing, and for a while she simply watched him unpack. It didn’t occur to her to leave, mostly because he showed no signs of discomfort with her presence, but for some reason she couldn’t look away. It was like watching a train wreck; where was all the rest of his stuff? How did he expect to function in college with two bags of clothes?

“So, is there anything else coming from England?” she asked finally, eyes locked on him as he puttered around his room. 

“No,” he replied, shutting a drawer and shoving the empty bag under his new bed. “Like I said, my entire life is right here.”

“Are you like… a drifter or something?” she laughed, suddenly starting to question her decision to accept him. “Or just a minimalist?”

He sighed noisily, and she wondered if he might not be up for all this conversation. By nature, Max liked to chat with just about everyone; there was no way she could have worked in retail for this long without having some sort of a social persona. That being said, sometimes it didn’t occur to her that not everyone wanted to talk to her as soon as they met her, and she contemplated leaving him be for the night to get settled in.

“Sorry, I just-“

“Right, here’s the story so you don’t go off on assumptions,” he said frankly, staring her down, arms folded across her chest. He didn’t sound angry, but rather more firm and to the point. “I spent my entire life with my family, and recently we had a … falling out. My father took everything from me as a result of our fight… No money, no belongings, no anything. I’ve come here to sort myself out, but I think it’s fairly obvious I’m out of my depth in America.” He paused, sucking in his cheeks for a moment as he observed her. “I could use a little guidance in the beginning.”

“Of course,” Max said quickly, the tension in her shoulders easing out at the thought of him not being a drifter. “Anything you need, I’m here to help you out.”

“I knew I picked the right place to live,” he told her. “Bathroom’s just there, isn’t it?”

“Oh, yeah,” she nodded, darting out of the way as he grabbed a pile of toiletries and scooted around her. “Uhm, just a thought with all that being said…”

She didn’t want to sound insensitive, but he mentioned that his dad wasn’t giving him money anymore. If that was something new, she had to wonder if he actually had any steady source of income. From the way he sorted out his room, she had a feeling he wasn’t going to be as big of a pig as Josh was, but if he didn’t have a lot of money to his name, that wasn’t really going to matter. 

“I don’t want to pry, but I just want to make sure,” Max told him when he stepped out of the bathroom, and she hastily moved to one side of the hall so he wouldn’t feel as though she was cornering him. “You have got… some source of income, right?”

“Not at the moment, no,” he informed her, “but I’ve got an American bank account somewhere… I just need to figure out where.”

Christ. She swallowed thickly, not wanting this to fall to pieces before it even started, and then inched along after him back toward his room. “Would you consider getting a job? A lot of us take part-time things to help pay for school and rent.”

“I may think about it,” Loki told her, “but I have other priorities at the moment.”

She wanted to tell him that rent was definitely a priority that he should consider, but she had offered to cover the first month in her ad. So, if he needed a little while to sort his things out, she may come back in a month’s time and they could have this discussion then. There was no sense in badgering him about things on the first night here. 

“Hey, are you hungry?” Max asked after a few minutes of listening to him putter around his small room. “I was just about to start making dinner before you got here.”

“I don’t have anything to eat just yet.”

“Oh, no, I know,” she insisted, poking her head in. “I’ll cook you something… Consider it my welcome feast to the apartment.” 

“Sounds lovely.”

Jeez. Having a British guy around was probably going to make her feel great all the time; everything was wonderful, lovely, and excellent. She was sure it was just a matter of dialect, and he probably didn’t even notice he was doing it, but it still managed to make her smile as she toddled off to the kitchen.

Unfortunately, the state of her fridge wasn’t really something to smile about. She stared at the shelves, and then let out a disappointed sigh. Yes, she had gone grocery shopping two days ago, but do you want to know what she bought? Two boxes of Kraft Dinner, a bag of apples, and a head of lettuce. Last night she had ordered in pizza, and it seemed that tonight there wasn’t going to be much of a feast prepared by her. Mind you, take-out was probably better than her cooking anyway, so Loki should consider himself lucky. So, instead of grabbing actual food, she snatched up the pile of take-out menus on the top of the fridge, and then sauntered back toward the bedrooms. 

“Loki?” she called. “Would you rather do Chinese or Italian?”

There was a pause, during which she closely examined the slightly worrying looking picture of some noodle dish on the Italian menu. Loki emerged a moment later, eyebrows furrowed. 

“Would I rather _what_?”

“Chinese or Italian?” she repeated, holding up the menu for him to see. “Food… I don’t actually have a lot in the fridge, so I thought we could order in tonight and pick some stuff up for both of us tomorrow.”

“Oh,” he remarked, peering a little closer at the menus in her hand. “Why don’t you pick the one that you like better? I wouldn’t have a clue…”

“Chinese it is,” Max said decidedly. She nodded, pleased with her decision, and then sauntered back to the living room. It was fairly obvious that she was going to be ordering everything, and as she dialed up the restaurant on her cell, she tried to pick as many easy, basic things as she could. If Loki wasn’t much of a technology person, she had a feeling he wouldn’t exactly be much of a foreign food person either. 

She eventually settled on a couple of noodle dishes, some rice, chicken balls, and sweet and sour chicken. You couldn’t go wrong with an array of things, and if he really didn’t like anything… Well, he should have sorted his shit out and picked up some food before showing up here. 

Once she finished on the phone, agreeing to a half hour delivery and an extra charge for paying with a debit card, Max wasn’t really all that sure what to do with herself. In a way, she felt like she had to entertain him. This may have been his house now too, but that didn’t take away from that fact that Loki was still a stranger. There she sat, on the couch, and she could hear him doing something in his room. It wasn’t odd to have a roommate again, as she had only been without one for a couple of weeks, but she felt like she needed to do something to make her apartment seem like fun. 

Instead, she turned on the TV and went back to reality shows. It didn’t need to be her job to entertain someone, especially when they had arrived less than an hour ago. Everyone, herself included, ought to have some sort of space at the start of this kind of relationship. 

True to their word, the little delivery man showed up within a half an hour, charged her an extra dollar to pay with her debit card, and she had piping hot foot to set out on the island in the kitchen. She called for Loki to join her for dinner, and he appeared moments later, nose high as he sniffed the air. 

“You’ll have to explain what all of this is.”

Just as she suspected. With a bit of a grin, she went through each container, explaining what everything was, and how nothing was too spicy. He seemed slightly unimpressed with the array, and she shrugged. 

“You won’t know if you like it until you try it,” she told him. “Haven’t you guys ever done Chinese food before?”

“We were always a little more traditional with our food,” he said slowly, picking up a chicken ball to examine, “and nothing was fried.”

“Welcome to the United States of America,” she laughed as she grabbed two plates and some forks. “Water?”

“Yes.”

She grabbed two glasses and filled them from the tap. When she placed them back on the island, she saw Loki had already filled his plate to the brim with a little bit of everything, settling onto one of the barstools. His legs were long enough to keep his feet basically connected to the ground, whereas Max usually let her legs dangle over the side.

“So?” she asked as he chewed his first mouthful. “What do we think? Acceptable?”

He swallowed quickly, and then took a sip of water. “It’s a little slimy.”

“Yeah, you’ll get used to it,” she mused, happily scooping herself a giant helping of white rice.

Once he got into it, it was clear that he didn’t really mind the food. They managed to make polite conversation throughout most of the meal, mainly about the college and its campus. Occasionally they would spice it up with a bit of chatter about the food, but otherwise all of the subjects were fairly neutral. Once again, she felt as though she needed to entertain him. The amount of food dwindled pretty quickly, mostly because Loki was eating like he hadn’t had a meal in days, and eventually she realized they were going to run out of polite things to chat about. A thought occurred to her as she watched him scrape his plate with his fork. 

“Question,” she started. “Do you drink?”

“Drink what?”

“You know, alcohol?”

“I suppose I’m a social drinker,” he told her, “and I do enjoy it at… parties.”

“Oh, good,” Max grinned, sliding off her barstool and grabbing two shot glasses from the ledge over the sink. “My old roommate and I did this the first night he moved in… He suggested it, actually, and it took all the awkward out of the air.”

“The awkward?”

“Well, that sort of… friendly politeness that everyone has when you first meet each other,” she explained, hopping up on the counter so that she could get at her bottle of vodka on the top shelf. “It’s sort of a… get-to-know-you game, but with alcohol. Once you’ve been drunk with someone for the first time, you’re basically best friends.”

“I don’t quite think that’s how friendship works,” he mused, his eyes following her as she returned to her spot. She could tell he was less than impressed at the idea of a drinking game, but once again, he wouldn’t know until he tried it, and by then, she hoped he’d be drunk enough to loosen up. 

She wasn’t a massive drinker or anything, but going through her undergraduate taught her what she was able to handle. People spent a long time drinking illegally when they first got to college, and drunken nights in residences were some of the best nights that she could remember. Now that they were all legal and had been for some time, drinking was more of a social thing; if she happened to get drunk while she was going it, then so be it. Unlike a few of her friends, she rarely picked a night to drink for the sake of getting wasted. 

“Humour me,” she told him as she set the bottle of alcohol down in front of him. “All right, so the game is called twenty-one questions. I have a hat… somewhere…”

She quickly popped open one of the nearby drawers and retrieved the hat, which was actually Josh’s, but it still had the questions in it from the previous time they played. 

“Now, what we do is we each pick a question out of the hat,” she explained. “We both have to answer truthfully, and then we do a shot.”

“What’s the point of it?” he asked stiffly, leaning forward to glance into the hat. 

“It’s a game that gets us chatting, and we’ll be more comfortable once we’ve got a bit of booze in us,” she replied. “I mean, if you really don’t want to do it, I understand. I just think it’s a cool way for us to introduce ourselves and get out of the awkward.”

He sighed, and then shrugged his shoulders. “I think I could use a drink after the days that I’ve had lately…”

“Awesome,” she said brightly. “Okay, so, I’ll go first, and we’ll do a shot with every other question, otherwise we’ll probably die.”

She quickly reached into the hat when he didn’t laugh at her exaggeration, and then pulled out the first balled up piece of paper. 

“Right, where are you from?”

“We’ve done this one already…”

“I know, but it’s just luck that we got it again,” Max insisted as she filled both shot glasses. “Answer the question.”

“England.”

“Where in England?”

“Does that count as an extra question? Aren’t there only twenty-one?”

Max rolled her eyes a little. “Fine. Well, I’m from Gainsborough, which is less than an hour east of here. Your turn.”

He reached into the hat with his slim, long fingers, and then retrieved another piece of paper. “Do you have any siblings?”

“Yup,” she nodded. “I’ve got an older brother… He’s on a tour in Iraq at the moment. Should be back next year.”

“Right.”

“You have to answer too,” she prodded, giving him a bit of a look. 

“I don’t have a brother or sister.”

“See, there we go!” Max laughed. “Now, drink up!”

She picked up her shot glass and downed it in one go, sucking in her cheeks before coughing a little. Ugh, she always forgot how terrible vodka tasted on its own. Loki mimicked her action, and she laughed as she watched his face screw up.

“Here,” she said quickly, her voice a little strained, “chase it with water, chase it with water!”

She shoved his glass back in his hand, and he finished the entire thing in one go. 

“What the hell is that?” he demanded, glaring at the bottle before picking it up to examine it. 

“I know it’s a bit strong, but it’ll get easier,” Max insisted, shaking herself up a little as the alcohol started to seep through her. “I have a friend who says vodka tastes like water when you’re drunk.”

“I somehow very much doubt that.”

“Moving on,” she said quickly, grabbing the next question. “Favourite food?”

“Meat,” he remarked. “You?”

“Bananas,” Max replied. “Don’t really know why.”

“Your favourite food is a fruit?” he clarified, wrinkling his nose a little. “That seems like a waste.”

“No judgements in twenty-one questions,” she snapped playfully. “Go!”

He grabbed another paper, and then read. “Favourite colour?”

“Purple.”

“Really?”

“What did I just say?” she ground out. “No judgements! What about you? Magenta?”

“Green, I suppose, if I must choose one--”

“Shot!”

He groaned a little as she refilled their small glasses, and even she hesitated before downing the entire thing again. This time, she finished the remainder of her water, and then quickly carried on with the game. 

“Are you a morning person?”

Loki huffed. “What does that mean? Do I like the mornings?”

“Yeah.”

“I suppose,” he replied, face still wrinkled from his shot. He produced another question. “Who was your best childhood friend?”

“Probably my brother, actually,” she said after a minute or two of thought. “We were two peas in a pod for most of my childhood. You?”

He was quiet as she refilled their glasses, and then dragged his toward him. “A man named Thor.”

“Thor and Loki?” Max chuckled, watching as he took his drink. “Man, you guys got some gems for names over there…”

This shot actually hurt her a little, and she coughed it out, quickly starting to feel the alcohol. Her face started to relax, and she could bite down hard on the inside of her cheek without really noticing it. 

“Okay,” she droned, thoroughly enjoying herself. “When was your last relationship, and with who?”

He cocked his head to the side. “That’s two questions.”

“Don’t question the questions,” Max stated. “It’s all-wise. Now answer.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had an actual real relationship,” he told her, “but I was… with a girl when I was younger for a little while.”

“Name?”

“That’s another question. Answer.”

“Fine,” she sighed, squaring her shoulders off at him. “My last boyfriend was three years ago… His name was Jared, and we dated for a year.”

“Fascinating stuff,” he droned, retrieving another question. He squinted at it, and she started to wonder if the quick intake of alcohol might be affecting him too. “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

“I want to work with guns,” Max sighed wistfully, “but alas, I think I’ll be in some office until I die.”

“Depressing.”

“Agreed. You?”

“I’d like to be a king,” he told her without missing a beat. 

“Lofty goal,” she said, giving him a bit of a nod. “All the power to you.”

He held up his glass to her, and they chinked them together before taking their next shot. She almost suggested they try drinking something else, but at the rate they were going, mixing didn’t seem like an especially good idea.

“Righto,” she giggled, grabbing a thicker ball of paper from the hat. “If you were o-on a desert island, what three things would you bring?”

“There’s a good question,” he mused, readjusting himself on his seat. “Let me have a think for a moment.”

“How do you have a think?”

“Shhh,” he murmured, holding a finger to his lips. “One question at a time.”

Yup, she wasn’t the only one feeling the booze. 

“All right,” he said finally. “I would bring something to start a fire, something to hunt with, and something to sleep on.”

“Tha’s a very vague answer,” she told him, frowning at him. “Boo.”

“No judgements, remember?”

“Whatever,” Max laughed. “Okay, so I’d bring… some f-fireworks, a soccer ball, and a bag of candy.”

“You’d be dead within the night.”

“Yeah, but it’d be a good time,” she insisted, picturing it in her slowly clouding brain. 

The questions and the shots that followed were something of a blur. Josh had been much chattier the last time they played, which meant the game lasted all night. Unfortunately, Loki seemed keen on moving through it at lightning speed, but with all the shots that followed, they both ended up in pretty bad shape really early on in the night. With only a few pieces of paper left, they were two shots away from finishing the round, and nearly her entire bottle of vodka. 

“If you w-woke up as the opposite sex,” Max laughed, sprawled out on the island, completely hammered at this point on shots of vodka, “what would be the first thing you’d do?”

“I don’t even… understand that question,” Loki told her, his speech slurred, eyelids blinking at alternate times.

“If you woke up as a lady,” Max clarified. “What would you do?”

His eyes slowly drifted down to her chest, and he nodded. “Breasts.”

Max snorted loudly, rolling her body awkwardly so that she was sitting up again – it was a miracle she hadn’t fallen off the stool yet – and then nodded. “Yeah, I’d probably jack off.”

“What?” He laughed loudly, the loudest she had heard him laugh all night, which made her giggle.

“'Kay,” she said groggily. “No more. I can’t… I can’t get to twenty-one.”

“Tha’s fine, Max,” he droned. “Speaking of unfortunate names…” 

“You know wha we should do,” she mumbled, pushing herself off the stool and carefully supporting her body against the island. “We should… We should take the trash outside so we don’t get ants.”

He groaned, which she ignored, and she then started pushing all the containers into a bag. Even while wasted, her fear of a house infested with rodents was enough to make her clean. 

“C’mon,” she moaned, grabbing his wrist and basically falling over, which managed to get him out of his seat, “I’ll show you where we throw stuff away outside.”

“I don’ want to.”

“Loki,” she whined, liking the way his name sounded when she whined it out. “S’not far!”

Somehow, she managed to get him outside the front door. Neither had shoes on, and she drunkenly cautioned him against the odd bits of sharp rocks they might encounter on the way to the bin. The massive garbage bin was around at the back of the building, and they eventually made it out there, chuckling and stumbling, her clutching his wrist for support despite the fact he was probably less stable than she was. 

“Kay,” she said when they came to a stop in front of the massive bin. There was a set of double doors that one had to open, and then there was a small chute for garbage, which emptied into the bigger bin. She dragged open one of the doors, which was heavy and metal and smelly, and then shrieked as a pair of raccoons hissed angrily at her. Angry and possibly rabies-infected, the larger of the two crouched defensively over their stolen meal, beady little eyes fixed on her. 

“What? What?” Loki demanded, nudging her aside and then stumbling back when the raccoon hissed again. “What the hell are those?!”

“Raccoons!” Max shrieked. “Run!”

And with that, in as classy a manner as possible, Max chucked her bag of garbage at them, slammed the door, unsure of how they got in there in the first place, and raced back to her apartment with Loki in tow.


	5. Hangover Blues

When Loki felt himself coming to, he almost couldn’t remember the bed he found himself in. The room was dark from a curtain that seemed to block out the light, but he could hear the pounding of rain against his window even without the extra sensitivities that he now lacked. He took a few deep breaths, eyes pressed shut tightly in response to the gut-wrenching pain in his stomach; what had she done to him?

Last night, after he had moved in the majority of his things, Max had brought up an idea for a way for the pair to get to know one another better. She insisted that there was too much “awkward” in the air, and by drinking and chatting, it would go away. He hadn’t necessarily noticed any “awkward”, as he was too preoccupied with staving off his mammoth hunger with the Chinese food she had ordered, and would have rather simply retired to his new bedroom to get some sleep for the night. However, she seemed so keen on the idea, and he did want to establish a good relationship with the person who was going to be his guide to surviving as a mere mortal. Loki also figured a good, stiff drink would be one way to keep his mind off of all his other worries. So, he could either turn her down and spend a few hours stewing in bed before falling asleep, or accept her offer and get a little tipsy while gaining a better understanding of the woman he was now living with. 

Well, that one good drink he desired turned into nearly eight small drinks of the vilest liquid he had ever tasted. However, if Max could do it, Loki certainly wasn’t going to object too sternly to it. He played the game according to her rules, and although the only worthwhile piece of information he learned was that she had an older brother in the military, he woke up remembering he had actually enjoyed himself. He hadn’t been intoxicated in what seemed like a century, and there he was, tipsy after two shots, and almost completely gone after six. From there, he remembered staring at her breasts at one point, and then they were outside, shrieking and screaming at two furry fat beasts in the garbage disposal area. That was the last thing he recalled; somehow he had ended up back in his bed, though he was still wearing the same thing he had been from yesterday. 

His body felt atrocious. Even though he had to have slept for more than seven hours, it felt as though he hadn’t gotten more than two good hours of sleep. His head throbbed angrily whenever he moved, and his stomach was an absolute mess. His breathing seemed a little laboured as he sat up, eyes barely open as he surveyed his dark new box of a room. His small bed was in one corner, next to it a miniscule bookshelf. Across the way was his desk beneath the small window next to the closet, which already had a dresser inside it for all of his new human clothes. It didn’t take much to navigate, and yet when he finally stood up, somehow he still stumbled into his bookcase. 

As soon as he was up, he felt his stomach knot angrily, and he found himself swallowing down spit that seemed to be constantly refilling from his cheeks. Oh. He was going to be sick. He hadn’t been physically sick since he was a boy, and now, after one night drinking with a human, Loki was going to spew everything in his gut onto the ground. With a hand over his mouth, Loki darted out of his bedroom and into the hall, and then made a sharp right toward their shared bathroom. Max’s bedroom door was open, the bathroom door was shut, and he could hear water running, but he really didn’t care; he could throw up all over the floor and be humiliated for the rest of the day, or he could throw up in the toilet and leave him and Max equally humiliated for the short duration of the incident. 

So, he threw open the door, which mercifully remained unlocked, and collapsed in front of the toilet bowl, emptying almost everything in his body seconds later. He gripped the edge of the white bowl, eyes watering as he vomited, and he vaguely heard the water shut off from the shower-bathtub concoction beside him. He heard Max clear her throat from behind a dark blue shower curtain, and he shook his head, feeling absolutely horrible; at least she couldn’t see the outcome of his... episode. 

“I’m sorry,” he ground out weakly. “I just…”

He trailed off, feeling his stomach giving way again, and moments later he was back to puking into the toilet like some simpleton who couldn’t hold his alcohol. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Max pop her head out from behind the shower curtain, a bit of a silly grin on her lips. He stared back at her over his shoulder when he finally stopped, eyebrows up, and she cocked her head to the side. 

“So…” She laughed a little. “How are we feeling?”

“I think that’s fairly apparent,” he grumbled, reaching up and flushing the mess away before the smell induced another bout of sickness. “Why aren’t you down here with me?”

“Well, I made sure I drank a lot of water before bed,” she told him. “That usually keeps my stomach from dying in the morning… I take it you just passed out?”

He groaned a little, rubbing his eyes as the toilet refilled beneath him. 

“Here, hand me the towel,” Max ordered, pointing to the fluffy green thing sitting in the sink. 

He stretched a little to reach it, and then tossed it back toward her. She caught it, showing a little bit of bare shoulder as she did, and then disappeared back behind the curtain. Loki sighed heavily; his head felt as though it was full of rocks that kept tumbling and jutting about in the tissues, and it was starting to become intolerable. He pulled the lid down and rested his head on the cool surface, shutting his eyes as he silently raged about the weaknesses of the human body. Even if he had drunk this much as a god, he was fairly sure he wouldn’t have felt this terrible the following morning. 

“Okay,” Max sighed. His eyes flickered open and he spotted her climbing out of the shower, that fluffy green thing wrapped around her body, wet hair hanging over her shoulders. “Take something for your headache, and then have a shower. I’m going to go get us some breakfast hangover food.”

“I don’t know if I should trust you ever again,” he half-whined, eyes still on her as she rummaged around on the cabinet next to the sink and produced a small rattling bottle. “Your game was a bit of a disaster.”

“Not true in the slightest,” she mused as she opened it and shook out two white pills. “You just puked in front of me, and I’m feeding you Advil while wearing a towel. I think the game did its job. Here…”

He gritted his teeth as he reached up to take the pills from her, barely even considering the fact that they may do more damage than good in his current situation. Max may have introduced him to a game that left him mostly immobile, but he was fairly sure that wasn’t her intention. He may have been the type to constantly scheme as a means of getting the best of people, but Max seemed like a fairly genuine young woman with no clear motives. Yet. 

Oh, fuck, what did he know – he had just emptied everything he ate the day before in the toilet. Loki hardly seemed to be in the state at the moment to make judgements about anyone. 

Max filled a plastic cup with some water and placed it on the lid of the toilet next to his head, and then pointed at it. “Finish all of that before you stand up again.”

He grunted in acknowledgement and then popped the two little pills in his mouth. Max had vanished from the bathroom, but he could vaguely hear her rustling around in her room down the hall. He cracked his neck noisily, and then proceeded to drink the entire glass in one go, only then realizing just how thirsty he was.

“So I noticed you didn’t bring any shampoo or anything,” Max commented when she reappeared back in the doorway of the bathroom, fully dressed. “Just use mine until we go get groceries.”

“Yes, thank you,” he muttered, slowly easing himself into a seated position with his back against the tub. “I must say, you handle vomit remarkably well.”

She shrugged, combing through her dark hair with her fingers. “I’ve been a student since I was eighteen… I’ve seen puke before.”

“Well, so have I,” Loki admitted, “but I certainly wouldn’t be as gracious as you.”

The woman grinned a little, and then stepped over his sprawled legs to go stand in front of the mirror. “Everybody gets one. Next time you come in while I’m in the shower, I’ll make sure you suffer a little.”

“I hadn’t realized I wasn’t suffering now,” he grumbled, which earned him an amused look.

“Someone hasn’t been hungover in a while, huh? It gets harder as we get older…”

Or become human. Loki rubbed his eyes again with the palms of his hand, reveling in the contact more than he should, and then let them drop into his lap. “You said you were fetching us breakfast?”

“Yup,” Max replied. “I thought I’d get us some McDonald’s… Greasy food is great when you feel like this.”

He watched, fascinated, as she applied some sort of dark ink to her eyelashes. When she finished, they certainly made her eyes stand out more, and she turned back to him, an eyebrow raised. 

“Is McDonald’s okay?”

“What?” he asked, mostly because he hadn’t really been listening, and then nodded quickly. “Oh, yes, yes that’s fine. I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

So far he had approved of her taste in food, even if the Chinese was a little strange, and he was sure he would enjoy whatever she brought back from her venture to this McDonald’s place she spoke of. 

“Cool. I’m driving, so I shouldn’t be too long.”

She stepped over him again, and this time his eyes lingered a little on her slim bare legs. Why did she insist on wearing shorts that were so small? Was this fashion to young women? He couldn’t imagine obese ones in the same thing… He blinked the image out of his head, and when he glanced down the hall, he spotted her figure retreating out the front door as she slipped on a pair of shoes. Moments later, he was completely alone in this new place that was supposed to be his, and he wasn’t really sure what to do with himself. 

Well, firstly, he needed to change out of these clothes. He quickly slipped out of the t-shirt and shorts and odd undergarments called ‘boxers’, and then stepped into the shower. The remnants of Max’s shower water lingered, which was chilly on his feet. It took him a minute or so to figure out how to get it all working, and he endured a blast of frigid water that made him yelp before he managed to change the temperature. However, once he got everything to a perfect place, the shower was absolutely brilliant. The fruity bath soaps he could do without, but Loki made use of Max’s shampoo to rinse his hair with. It was getting a little long, and he hadn’t seen any other man who looked his age with hair this long, so he opted to wear it up in a tie to detract attention from him whenever he was out.

Once he finished with the shower, he realized he did not have his own fluffy green thing to dry off with, and opted to use the slightly smaller towel hanging on the nearby hand rack. It wasn’t great, but it got him dry enough to leave the tub, gather his clothes, and then dart back down the hallway into his room. He quickly dressed himself in another pair of shorts that were essentially the same as the ones he wore yesterday, but dark brown instead, and then threw on a clean t-shirt. Loki let his hair dry on its own, and decided to take advantage of his time alone in the apartment to do a little exploring. 

Naturally, he started where his curiosity was the greatest – Max’s room. The set-up was quite similar to his, but it was clear that the place was lived in. One wall was painted white while the other three were purple, though she had clearly gone and made some sort of circular purple design on the white space in an attempt to be artistic. She did say she wanted to be an artist, right? Or... something. He riffled through the things on her desk, pushing the buttons on the device that he knew was called a laptop and flinching when the screen went from black to coloured. He stepped back, not wanting to leave any evidence behind of his snooping. There was a laundry bin next to her closet, with a brassiere sticking out and some socks on the floor. Her bookshelf brimmed with novels, and as he trailed his fingers along the spines, he realized this would have been a much quicker way to get to know his new roommate. 

She was clearly artistic, though a little messy based on the state of her desk. From the undergarments that weren’t tucked away from view, he assumed she was fairly modest. There were a few pictures taped up over her bed of what appeared to be family and friends, and he noticed a few recurring characters amongst them. All in all, she seemed incredibly average, even for a self-professed artist. He hadn’t the slightest idea what Museum Studies consisted of, but he had a sinking suspicion it was quite dull. 

Well, at least he hadn’t picked someone who might actually threaten his existence on this planet. There were enough people on Earth and off it who would like to see his throat slit, and he had landed on a fairly safe choice for cohabitation. 

When he finished off in Max’s room, quite sure there would be no hidden surprises in there, he drifted toward the meat of the apartment: the living-cooking area. He had almost little to no knowledge of how the appliances functioned, mostly because he had never really cooked for himself before. So, he took some time investigating things. There was a cold box that housed all the produce with an even colder box on top for what appeared to be frozen meats. There wasn’t much in this ice box, but he assumed they would fill it when they went for ‘groceries’ sometime in the near future. There was another large box-like contraption with four circles on top, all of which heated when he turned a knob. These seemed to be the two large appliances that every home might have, and then there were smaller ones like the self-proclaimed Microwave and a kettle. Much like her room, it seemed fairly basic out here. 

As he rummaged through the cabinets, getting to know where he might find a glass or a plate should he need it, he heard a key being shoved into the lock at the front door, and moments later a wet Max stumbled in. 

“Fucking weather,” she hissed, cradling several large bags to her chest. It was, apparently, still raining. After kicking off her shoes, she waddled toward the little island in the center of the kitchen and placed the bags down, shooting him a grin before dashing off to her room. 

It certainly didn’t look appealing, food from a bag, but the smell instantly drew Loki toward them, and he found himself reaching in to unpack everything in her absence. He could get used to this; so far, Max had conjured up both meals for him, and it would have been great if this was the path their relationship continued along. 

She returned moments later in a different shirt, and then shooed his hands away with hers. “Wait, wait, I bought us specific things…”

“Do explain,” he told her, staring at all the little boxes with pictures of food on the top. 

“I bought you two double cheeseburgers,” Max explained as she pushed two of the large boxes toward him. “They come with fries too. You seem to have a bit of an appetite.”

He gingerly popped open one of the boxes only to find a bun. Further investigation revealed some meat, lettuce, cheese, a tomato, and some sort of weird onion-pickle mix, but doubled. And there were two of them. 

“It looks… disgusting,” he told her honestly. Loki glanced up as she scooped a handful of fries into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully before shrugging. 

“Just eat it. You’ll love it.”

“Well-“

“Eat it!”

He scooped the contraption up and took a quick bite, noting that it was similar to a sandwich, but clearly at a lower quality of production. However, as soon as he started to chew, there was something about the combination of atrocities between two buns that tugged at his taste buds, and he took another hearty bite before he swallowed, thrilled with this discovery. 

“See?” she laughed. “Best cure for a night of drinking…”

He said nothing, but continued scarfing the McDonald’s sandwich down, nodding his head a few times. She might have been a little plain, but Loki was starting to suspect this girl was some sort of food genius. 

“So,” she said, poking a straw into her drink and taking a sip. “My plan for today is to sit on the couch and ride out the hangover with a good ol’ Lord of the Rings marathon. You interested?”

His eyebrows shot up, and he paused before he could try one of those golden fries. “What is Lord of the Rings?”

She laughed in disbelief, and when he said nothing, chewing thoughtfully on the fry instead, she shook her head. “Did you grow up under a rock? Have you seriously never seen or heard of Lord of the Rings?”

“You’ll find I’m not very cultured,” Loki forced, to which she laughed again. 

“Well, I know what we’re doing today,” she insisted, gathering up her food and migrating toward the couch. 

He followed, mostly because he had nothing else to do, and he certainly didn’t feel like doing anything that involved a great deal of thinking. He managed to settle in quite comfortably to the corner of the couch, and he watched Max hurry about, turning things on and showing him some case with the title of the movie on it. He was mildly aware of film and had even seen a few through Eric Selvig’s eyes; he had picked up some things on his last venture to Earth, but clearly not the one Max was prattling on about.

“Oh!” she said suddenly as she flopped down on the other end of the couch, remotes and sandwiches in her lap. “I ran into Donna from the admissions office at McDonald’s… I asked about your application, and she said you’re fine; they just need to fill out some paperwork. Fast, huh? Good to know you’re in…”

He twirled his finger in celebration as he chewed his most recent mouthful, which made her grin. So thrilled was he to know that this small college deemed him worthy of attendance. How wonderful and meaningful his human existence had become. 

“All right,” Max said after a few minutes of fiddling with the television to get to the main menu of the film. “Get ready for the most epic twelve hours of your life… They’re extended, which means we’ll be watching awesomeness until midnight.”

“Hurrah,” Loki sighed, more excited at the prospect of his second McDonald’s burger than he was about ‘watching awesomeness’ for the rest of the day. 

Maybe they could get some more burgers for dinner…


	6. Princess Pea

Max had almost forgotten what it was like to live with an awesome roommate. She hadn’t experienced it since her best friend Patricia moved out when they finished their undergraduate together nearly three years ago, and it had been an uphill slog the entire way. From the noisy bitches to the messy pigs, Max was starting to lose hope for the rest of humanity and their ability to interact with other human beings, and then Loki walked into her life. 

Two weeks in and she had already decided he was probably the easiest person to live with thus far, Patricia aside. He was usually fairly quiet, cleaned his dishes within the day, and barely had enough stuff to fill his room, let alone the living room. Max preferred to shower in the morning, and Loki at night. They were equally terrible in the kitchen, and enjoyed sharing the cooking tragedies they concocted by making most of their dinners together. 

During the day, Max either worked at the campus bookstore in preparation for the start of a new term in a week, or she kept herself busy on the computer, prepped for her own courses, or occasionally grabbed a bite to eat with the friends that were slowly trickling back into Masonville. As far as she knew, Loki kept himself busy during the days too; he had taken up jogging, which made him disappear for hours, and had read the majority of his textbooks for his science courses already. Once he learned how to work the television, he spent an hour in the morning watching the national news, and then an hour in the evening watching the local news with avid fascination. He also paid for them to get a subscription for the newspaper, and seemed almost obsessive about keeping up with global events. She sometimes asked why he wanted to study science if global issues were so interesting, but he never really had a direct answer. 

Nights were usually the time that the two of them hung out together, and Max actually really enjoyed it. He was intelligent, witty, and perfectly happy to either engage in a conversation or sit in silence with a bowl of chips and watch television with her. She really liked their lazy evenings together. Sometimes they would walk downtown to grab some take-out, and once this past week she had taken him to see a movie when a friend of hers was working, which meant they saw it for free. He was a surprising amount of fun, despite the fact there was always this slightly annoyed expression on his face whenever she forced him to do new things. 

He really must have grown up in a box somewhere in England, because he seriously lacked knowledge of all things in the popular culture, even the basics, and was a completely technologically illiterate when it came to some of the simplest things; the microwave could prove especially vexing sometimes, which always made Max laugh from somewhere in the background when he swore at it. 

Max also had a sinking suspicion that his family was absolutely loaded, because even though he wasn’t really messy, he hadn’t the slightest idea about how to do laundry, clean dishes properly, or scrub a toilet. It made her think that he had some sort of help growing up, probably some stuffy butler who never smiled, which meant he didn’t have to do anything on his own until now. Don’t get her wrong – her mom did a ton of housework for her and her brother while they were growing up, but they still had basic chores to do. Loki seemed to have missed out on that experience, and Max took a great deal of pleasure (secretly) in watching him learn how to recycle or push garbage bags into the compactor out back. 

So far, life with Loki was actually much better than life without him. She hadn’t been lonely or bored once since he moved in. They both seemed to know how to keep a polite distance when necessary, but otherwise it was always great to be able to harass him into walking down to grab a Subway sandwich at nine o’clock at night just because she was craving. It was pretty easy to tell when he was in a mood; he was less responsive, less witty, and less willing to banter if he was feeling like a grump, and Max learned very quickly that it was easier for everyone if she kept her distance until he stopped being a sourpuss. She wasn’t really sure what specifically he had to be upset over, but she suspected there was more family drama than he had discussed with her before, and she wasn’t going to push him into talking before he was ready.

“Can you take the chicken out of the fridge?”

She readjusted her legs, stretching them out across the couch as a rerun of _Scrubs_ started. 

It was Sunday afternoon, a week before their first day of the term, and Max had planned to have a lazy day in since she had worked all day yesterday and was scheduled to work all day Monday. Plus, the professor who she was TA-ing for wanted to meet with her and the other TAs sometime that week, and she needed to have some sort of game plan for interesting lesson topics to present; as a safety measure, all the teacher’s assistants needed to have one lecture they were good with in case the professor was sick. So far, Max had two she liked for her first year art history class. However, she may have liked them, but she hadn’t covered the material since she was a first year, which meant there was a lot to go over. So, Sunday was for relaxation, because the rest of the week was going to fly by in the blink of an eye. 

“Do we want the little wings or the…” Max glanced over the couch when Loki paused for a moment, and spotted him examining a frozen package of chicken in front of the fridge. He frowned a little. “...breasts?”

“Let’s do the breasts,” she suggested, watching as he tossed the other frozen package back in the freezer. “If we fuck up, it’s less chicken ruined.”

“Hmm, good point.”

They had planned to do a chicken and vegetable dinner tonight, even though it was a little more adventurous than they were used to, and she needed it to thaw now. She heard him rustling around in the fridge, and as a commercial segment started, Max pushed herself over the armrest of the sofa, studying him for a moment. 

“Are you going for a jog?”

That was almost a rhetorical question, as he was wearing the jogging shorts they bought last week and one of the new school t-shirts she picked him up, which meant all signs pointed to yes – yes, he was jogging during the hottest time of the day. 

“I feel a little pent up this morning,” he admitted as he ripped open the top of a yoghurt carton and shoving a small spoon in. “I might try that trail.”

“Just watch out for… wild things,” Max cautioned as she returned her gaze to the television, otherwise she might gawk at his toned legs for longer than acceptable. “My friend Garret said he and his buddies saw a bear in the woods once.”

“Bear. Noted,” he murmured, his mouth clearly full of the Berry Blast yoghurt he seemed almost obsessive about. “Are they bigger than those creatures we saw in the garbage that one time? Remember?”

“The drunk raccoon incident from two weeks ago?” Max laughed, rolling her eyes a little. “Yeah, bears are bigger than that. Just make a lot of noise and run up a hill.”

“Sound advice, Max, sound advice.”

“Well, I mean, just don’t go too far into the woods and you’ll be fine,” she told him as she picked at the rubber buttons on her remote. “You know it’s like a million degrees outside? Why do you want to leave the air conditioning?”

“Running is therapeutic,” Loki told her, and she vaguely heard him lift the lid to the garbage and toss his yoghurt out. She then heard the water start to run, indicating him washing his spoon. “Haven’t you heard of the health benefits—"

“Shhh, the show is back on,” Max ordered, holding up a finger to him just visible over the back of the couch as the commercials finally came to an end. He sighed noisily from somewhere in the kitchen. 

Moments later, there was a knock at the front door, and she heard him saunter toward it, his bare feet only just audible over the sound of hilarity on the television. She wasn’t really sure who would bother to come see either of them, though she had a feeling whoever it was, they were for her and not him; Loki knew a grand total of two people in this town, Max included. However, she couldn’t drag herself off the couch today, and saw nothing wrong with letting Loki grab the door.

“Hello…”

“Hey…” The voice sounded familiar, and Max perked up suddenly. “Does… Max still live here?”

“Oh my god, Pat!”

What followed involved a lot of screaming, jumping, hugging and laughing, all of which Loki managed to avoid by ducking out of the way before Max tackled her best friend and former roommate. 

When they finished school, Pat had managed to secure an internship at a small museum in New York City, which meant she up and left their small town life behind for bigger and better things. Her life should've been a movie, because she’d been working at the Met for a year now and loving life, a life Max could only dream of having. They were usually in constant touch via texting, but this was a complete surprise, one Pat had hidden well from her. 

Her best friend was a petite girl, seemingly smaller since she had moved to the city, with a mass of blonde curls and the brightest blue eyes you had ever seen. They were always a paradox when they were together: Pat light and bright with her smile, and Max dark and tanned with big brown eyes and frizzy, occasionally tamed, brown hair. They were average friends in high school, and better friends in college, and best friends by the end of it. Life was weird and a little lonesome in Masonville without her, especially when they went long periods without seeing one another. This time around, she hadn’t seen her since Christmas, and Max was absolutely over the moon to see Patricia’s shining face on the other side of the door, even if the shine was from sweat.

“Get inside,” she laughed, looping her arm around Pat’s and hauling her stylish self into the apartment, kicking the door shut behind her. “You bitch! Why didn’t you tell me you’d be in town?”

“It’s not a surprise then, whore,” Pat laughed, throwing her arms around her neck for another hug. She spotted Loki eyeing the situation apprehensively over Pat’s shoulder, and she grinned, breaking the hug to make introductions. 

“Pat,” she started, gesturing to Loki, “this is my new roommate as of two weeks ago… Loki.”

“Loki?” Pat repeated, quirking a blonde eyebrow as she looked him up and down. “Radical name.”

“Loki, this is Patricia,” Max continued. “We were the original roommates of this apartment before she made it big in New York.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Patricia,” Loki told her, extending his hand out for a shake. Patricia glanced down at it, and then curved her pink lips into a grin. 

“We prefer to hug in the city,” she explained, stepping forward to drag the much taller man down into a hug. Max stifled a laugh as Loki awkwardly patted her back, eyebrows furrowed, and then hastily darted to the side once she released him. 

“Well, you ladies enjoy your reunion,” he said dismissively, grabbing his shoes before hurrying out the door. “Don’t want to jog too late.”

“Bye,” Patricia laughed, leaning to the side to watch him leave. As soon as the door shut, she turned back on her heel to face Max, eyes wide, and squealed, “Hot!”

“So hot,” Max agreed. “I actually wear my bra around the house because he’s that hot.”

“I don’t know how you’re going to live with him,” her friend giggled. “Have you seen his arms?”

“I am aware that they are quite physically fit,” she laughed. “It’s the eyes and the accent for me. Did you hear him?”

“I’d do so many things to him,” Pat told her as they drifted toward the couch. “Like… horrible, awful, dirty things, and it would be… exquisite.”

“Yeah,” Max sighed wistfully, allowing herself a split second to allow the dirty thoughts she normally blocked out of her head a second to play out. She wasn’t into the guy, per se, but he was attractive and they got along, so it was only natural to feel a bit of an attraction at this point. 

“So, have you guys done anything yet?”

“Pat!” Max laughed, smacking her friend as they settled down on opposite ends of the couch. “No, that’s weird… We live together!”

“Yeah, but it’s not like ‘relative roommates’, it’s like… sexy friend roommates living together,” Patricia argued deviously, wiggling her eyebrows at Max, which prompted her to throw a pillow at the woman. 

“Don’t tempt me,” Max told her firmly, a wide grin on her lips. “Enough about him… Tell me about you! Why are you down here all of a sudden? Are you back?”

“No, no, god no,” Patricia laughed, shrugging off the idea with a shiver. “I’m coming back to talk to some undergrads about a future in Museum Studies…”

“Seriously?” Max snorted. “We actually have people interested in our program?”

“I know, right? Craziness,” Pat said. “I’ll be here for two weeks, and then I’m back home and back to work.”

“Look at you, jetsetter,” Max poked her legs with her foot. “You’re just all over the place.”

“That’s kind of what I wanted to chat about in person,” Pat started, a touch more seriousness to her tone. “There’s this program at a museum in Oxford… England, and every year they take hundreds of applicants from Britain to do a summer internship.”

“Great.” Max nodded. “Are you looking to do summer work? Unpaid, I bet…”

“No, not for me,” her friend insisted. “For you! They have a spot for foreigners, preferably English speaking ones, and apparently, no one ever applies for it.”

“Oh.”

“So, you want an in into the museum world?” she asked. “Do this internship. You get a great reference from it, and it’ll look awesome on your resume.”

“Yeah, that sounds like something I might consider,” Max told her. “I mean, I don’t know if I should forgo a summer of working just to work for some British internship-“

“Max,” Patricia said firmly, leaning forward and taking hold of her feet. “If you ever want to get out of here, more than an hour away from where we grew up, you need to do stuff like this. You need to try.”

“I do try!”

“Not really,” her friend argued. “I mean, you work a lot, you get good grades, but our field is competitive and small… You need something more than like… four years of experience at the bookstore and a TA position to make yourself stand out.”

“Thanks, Mom.”

“I’m just trying to be helpful for my little grad student,” Pat giggled, nudging her once again. “Think about it. I’ll email you the links for the application.”

“Cool.”

“Okay, enough business,” she laughed, shaking off the tension that always arose whenever they discussed Max’s future with a bright smile. “Update me on everything, starting with what happened with Josh, and have you seen Loki in the shower yet?”

She snorted loudly, and then proceeded to fill Patricia in on the events that had been going on in her life, the ones that were too long for text messages and emails. It was always so easy to fall back into their natural rhythm of filling the other one in on their lives. Obviously there was a little bit of sadness, because they couldn’t necessarily understand some of the good stories that happened with other people, and they weren’t quite as easy to piece together when Max hadn’t hung out with any of Pat’s friends, but they made it work. 

Hours drifted by. Loki returned from his jog, sweaty and panting, and both women leaned over the couch as he drifted into the bathroom, stifling their giggles when Pat wiggled her eyebrows at his retreating form. He didn’t join them out in the living room when he finished, but instead locked himself in his room until Pat finally remembered she was meeting a professor for dinner downtown that night. 

“Look, let’s get everyone together and do a pub night sometime this week,” she suggested as she slipped into her shoes, tucking her effortless hair behind her ears. “I really want to see everybody.”

“I’ll see who managed to get back before September, and then I’ll text you,” Max agreed, grinning as she leaned against the doorframe. “Do you have a place to stay?”

“Yeah, yeah, don’t worry about it,” Pat insisted, giving her one last hug. “I’ll be in touch.”

Max waved her out, watching as she hopped into what was clearly a rental car and departed from the complex’s parking lot. She smiled, remarkably pleased with the way the day had gone, and then shut herself back inside. She then went to check on the chicken, pleased that it was pretty much thawed, and began to rummage about in the fridge for some vegetables. 

“That must have been a nice surprise.”

Max flinched when Loki’s voice suddenly appeared behind her, and her eyes narrowed a little. “Can you not creep around the house like that? It scares the shit out of me.”

“Sorry,” he chuckled, holding up his hands as a sign of surrender. “I’ll stomp from now on.”

“You better,” she told him. “Okay, so, we’ve got a can of peas and some broccoli… Does that sound good with chicken?”

She set the can of vegetables down on the counter, and Loki picked it up to examine it. He shook his head, and then raised both eyebrows at her. “Are we really doing this again? Chicken was our worst dish.”

“We didn’t let it thaw last time,” Max argued as she removed the pair of chicken breasts from their packaging. “This time… should be better.”

Oh, she needed to preheat the oven. Fuck, she was awful at cooking. She quickly turned the knobs to the temperature she used to cook just about everything, and then decided she should probably delegate some of this out between them. 

“Okay, how about I do chicken,” she suggested, “and you can do the vegetables. Just follow the instructions on the can.”

“Right.”

“We are not going to mess this up,” she told him. “Positive thoughts, Loki. This dinner is going to be awesome.”

“Not really sure how awesome canned peas are, but all right,” he muttered just loud enough for her to hear. 

“Easy, Captain Sarcasm.”

He shot her a grin as he continued to read the instructions on the side of the can, a grin that was definitely something that would make a girl like Pat do awful, horrible things to him. Damn it, Pat. Now she had gone and put all these thoughts in her head. Well, the thoughts were there initially, but she had managed to suppress them fairly well. She certainly didn’t need to have a little crush on her roommate, but she knew that if she kept trying to ignore it, it would only get worse. So, she had to accept that she was physically attracted to Loki; after all, he was definitely crush-worthy… It was perfectly acceptable. 

“So, how was your run?”

“Good,” he replied as he started searching through the cabinets for a pot. She wasn’t going to help him find it, and instead hopped up the counter and crossed her legs as he searched for one beneath her in the proper place. He popped up a moment or so later so that they were roughly at the same eye level, pot in hand, and then smirked a little her when she felt her cheeks twinge a dull flush. 

“What happened to your face?” she asked, both diverting the attention from her stupid blushing because of stupid Pat and her stupid compliments about Loki’s stupidly hot body and acknowledging that there was a bit of a scratch above his eyebrow. 

“Oh, that,” he said quickly, going to the sink and filling the pot with water. “I fought a bear, actually. You should have seen him… absolutely massacred.” 

“You ran into a tree, didn’t you?”

“Branch hit me in the face,” he sighed, rolling his eyes a little when he turned back to face her. “I don’t like running in the woods.”

“Poor baby,” she cooed, hopping off the counter when the stove timer dinged to announce that it was heated fully. She then slathered the raw chicken in some sauce, stuck it on a pan, and then slid it in the oven. Meanwhile, she heard Loki fiddling with the can opener, and she left him to his own devices as she washed her hands and turned on the radio. “How’s the can opener working for you?”

“I’ve almost got it,” he grumbled, snapping it into place finally and turning it, grinning at his small accomplishment. 

“All right, so the chicken will probably take forty minutes,” Max estimated, glancing at the clock. “Want to do an episode of something while we wait?”

“Yes, I suppose that would be fine,” he replied as he plopped all his vegetables in the water. “These won’t take as long as the chicken.”

“No, probably not,” she agreed as she drifted over toward the television. 

She then flopped down on the couch, powered up the TV, and waited for him to join her. He did, and as usual he took the spot at the other end of the couch, long legs stretched out on the old coffee table in front of them. Also as usual, he had no opinion on what they watched, no favourite shows or anything, so she stopped flicking through channels when they landed on some crime scene investigation show, something he always seemed to enjoy. He liked to try to figure out the murderer well before they announced their first suspect, which was always entertaining to hear his theories. 

However, tonight she couldn’t focus on his theories because she constantly found her thoughts drifting to other places on him. It wasn’t really anything specific, but she couldn’t help glancing over at him every so often and thinking about him as more of a sexual being, rather than her normal roommate. 

Damn it, Pat. 

“Is everything all right, Max?”

“What?”

Mortification. He caught her looking at him. Ugh. 

“You keep looking at me, and it’s not even the commercial break yet,” he said, eyes still on the TV as he spoke. He must have had wicked peripherals. 

“Oh, yeah, I just… keep thinking about that branch hitting you in the face,” she lied. “Are you sure it’s okay? It looks kind of… bleedy.”

Ugh. Double ugh. 

“Bleedy?” he repeated, finally turning to face her with a frown on his lips. “Are you sure? Take a look for me, will you? The light is better here than in the bathroom.”

“Uhm…” she trailed off nervously, and then leaned a little closer to examine the fairly small, thin cut just above his eyebrow. “You know what? I’m not sure what I was seeing before… It looks fine.”

She licked her lips and nodded, as though deciding for herself that everything was acceptable, and then quickly settled back into the couch. Just for safe measure, she pulled a pillow in front of her and wrapped her arms around it. 

Stop it, Max. You live with him. Every single day will be this, and it’ll get awkward for everyone if you pull shit like that again. 

She glared up at her forehead, wishing her brain would stop sending conflicting messages and just be normal. Play it cool, brain. 

“I think it was the fellow who came by to watch the police take the body out,” she heard him hypothesize. “I mean, why would you bother unless you’d like to see your handiwork?”

“Uh huh.”

Turns out it wasn’t Loki’s first guess, as usual, and once Max got a little more into the show, she stopped caring about the attraction in her brain to her roommate. Whatever. It happens, and she wasn’t going to let it ruin what seemed to be a fast-budding friendship. 

“Does something smell like its burning to you?”

Max, too engrossed in the final interrogation scene, suddenly realized that she had left the chicken on one side for over forty minutes, and propelled herself off the couch and raced to the stove. Loki followed closely behind, and they both coughed when she opened the oven, smoke billowing out. 

“Fuck,” she hissed, snatching a pair of towels and pulling the pan out. As she suspected, the bottom half was burnt to a crisp, whereas the opposite side was a nice golden brown. “Well, that’s done.”

“My vegetables seem to be fine,” Loki noted smugly as he poked at the floating broccoli with a spoon. Max frowned, and then snorted noisily. 

“You forgot to turn the burner on,” she groaned, reaching in the cold pot and finding a piece of equally cool broccoli. “Nothing cooked!”

He brought his hands up just as she threw the piece at him, and he seemed genuinely surprised. “Did you just… throw a vegetable at me?”

“Learn to turn on the burner!”

“Learn to not… burn the chicken,” he snapped back, snatching a floating pea and flicking it at her. Her eyes widened, and she plucked the spoon from his hand, scooped up a few peas, and then poised it in the attack position. Loki backed away, looking down at the spoon, and then grinned at her. “Don’t start a war you cannot possibly win, Max.”

“Come at me,” she challenged, flicking the spoonful of peas at him. She then shrieked when he lunged for her, and she tore off around the other side of the island, eyes widening when she saw he had the entire pot in his hand. “Oh, so not fair!”

“I did warn you, didn’t I?”

She pursed her lips for a moment, and then darted down the hall, racing for the bathroom as his footsteps thundered after her. She couldn’t help but laugh as she managed to lock herself in the bathroom, pleased that she saved herself from the barrage of peas and broccoli. There was a soft tap on the door, and she heard Loki whine her name. 

“I’ve put the pot down,” he told her. “Let’s just decide you’ve won a small battle, and postpone the war until after we eat?”

“Fuck you, you haven’t put the pot down,” she said playfully, her hand on the knob. “Proof or you’re full of it.”

“How can I give you proof?” he laughed. “You can’t even see me!”

“Guess I’m just going to live in the bathroom then,” Max told him. 

Silence was his response, and she pressed her ear to the door, only to frown when she heard nothing. Now, she wasn’t a moron; she grew up with a brother, so she knew all the tricks. However, she was more or less interested with where this might go, and finally decided to unlock the door just so she could get a peak outside. 

However, he took her moment of stupid weakness, and Max screamed when he charged in through the door, pot in hand, vegetable water slopping everywhere. She tried to duck underneath him and slip away, but he managed to catch her around the waist, and somehow they ended up falling back into the bathtub. Luckily, no one managed to rip down the shower curtain, but Max ended up covered in peas, broccoli, and fairly smelly vegetable water. Loki tumbled to the side: both of them ended up in the tub, legs propped up on the rim, both wet from the pot and remnants of Loki’s shower earlier. 

“I hate you,” she laughed as she picked peas out from her chest area. “You’ve ruined everything.”

“Can we just go out to eat?” he asked as he plucked a pea from her hair. “This really doesn’t seem to be worth the trouble.”

“Fine,” Max groaned as she continued to brush vegetables off her body. “Just let me clean up and we can go.”

She looked over at him and he grinned again, that same damn grin that made her blush, and she punched him on the arm as hard as she could. “Get out!”

“All right, all right, I’m going,” he chuckled, hoisting himself up and out of the tub. “Don’t take too long, Princess Pea. I’m hungry.”

“Oh, a pop culture reference,” she droned, kicking at his legs as he walked by. “I’m _so_ surprised.”

She was, actually. Good job, Loki. Good show.


	7. Syllabus Sea

“Wake up! You’re going to miss your first class!”

Loki jolted awake as a pillow slammed into his face, and he nearly launched himself at his attacker out of habit. However, on some sort of a subconscious level, he knew it was Max rousing him from a peaceful slumber, and that meant he couldn’t throttle her just yet. Had it been anyone else, any other person on this planet, he may have choked them within an inch of their life, but it was Max. So, instead of retaliating, he groaned noisily and rolled over, shielding his face weakly from her barrage of pillow-smacks. 

“Max,” he growled, eyes pressed shut firmly as he curled into himself, “stop hitting me!”

“No,” she snapped, giving him one last hit for good measure. “You promised you wouldn’t skip your classes!”

He groaned again, and then rolled over, glaring at her as she towered over him. “We’ve been through this.”

“You shouldn’t just care about one class because it’s taught by one guy-"

“That guy is the reason I’m here,” Loki argued, despite the fact he had no need to explain himself to her. “I don’t need to care about the rest of them.”

“This isn’t the way to start your undergrad,” Max insisted, throwing his pillow back down on the bed and planting her hands on her hips. “If you do poorly in all your other classes, they’ll kick you out for failing. So… Up. You have class in forty minutes.”

He knew he’d regret agreeing to post his schedule up on the ice box next to Max’s. It had been her idea that they both post them so that they would know where the other was if they needed to get in touch with them for some reason or another. Loki certainly didn’t care, but Max seemed to think it would be beneficial somehow, so he did it. 

After three weeks of living with this girl, he came to decide that she was an acceptable human being. There were so few of them, and she was incredibly tolerable, perhaps the most tolerable of all the humans he had been forced to interact with over his various trips to this planet. She had an incredibly strange sense of humour, almost no ability to create anything in the kitchen, and could actually hold an intelligent conversation when he prodded her enough. In the grand scheme of things, she had no real purpose. Unlike Edgar Ludwick, she would have no input or function toward getting him back out into space, but he enjoyed her company all the same. She was extraordinarily patient with his failing as a mortal, and hardly seemed irritated or put off that he knew almost nothing about popular culture trends or modern technology. 

If Loki had been in her situation, he probably would have had an exceptional amount of fun at her expense before dispensing with her. He had no tolerance for idiocy, and yet here he was: a buffoon when it came to some of the simplest tasks, and Max had no qualms with it. Sometimes she poked a little fun here and there, but otherwise she seemed determined to get him caught up on everything he might have missed while living under a rock somewhere in England. 

His backstory had been adequate enough thus far, but he was sure people may start to poke holes in it if he told too many about it. So, his plans were to keep to himself while he was at the college for his courses, gain the trust of Ludwick, and then use that trust to get him in contact with someone from Earth’s space program. Why a genuine scientist with connections to such a prestigious program would choose to teach in this pittance of a town was beyond his comprehension, but he wasn’t about to question the gift that was placed before him. 

However, because Ludwick was the only person he truly cared about impressing, Loki had already planned to not attend any of the other classes on the schedule some guidance counsellor dreamed up for him based on his requests. Today would have consisted of an American History course, followed by Ludwick’s introduction to biology an hour later, and lastly some art history class that he had been slotted into because most of the other ones were full. That was just for today, mind you; he still had an arithmetic lesson of some sort, and a media and technology course the following day, neither of which he had any intention of going to. However, when he accidentally let it slip that he wasn’t planning on attending the majority of his lessons, Max nearly threw a fit. 

She was so keen on his success in college, perhaps because she was under the impression that he had nothing else in his world to live for. It was a little frustrating, but he almost found it endearing the way she fretted over this and that, all of it pointless in the grand scheme of the universe, of which Loki ought to be a substantial part of. He was angry with a lot of things in his world, but Max could hardly be one of them; she had been accepting of him almost instantly without having to make much of an effort, and she had immediately tried to make him feel as comfortable as possible. However, it was extremely trying sometimes to have the same amount of patience he felt from her when he was in a mood, and they happened fairly frequently.

The rage he felt at the loss of his powers and the fallacies of this mortal form was incredible, and it usually lurked near the surface, ready to strike. Max was quite lucky he had such a good grasp on it, otherwise her morning wake-up routine that Monday might have cost her a few limbs. He closed his eyes once more when she ripped the sheets off him; she had certainly become quite familiar with him at a remarkable rate, this girl. 

“Max,” he growled again. “There is absolutely no point-"

“Look, you need to pick up your syllabus for the class, and at least show your face once,” she said, poking him hard enough in the chest to make him wince. “Just go and you might like it. Like Chinese food-“

“All right, all right,” Loki moaned, his eyes snapping open to narrow at her. “I’m getting up.”

“Good,” she said triumphantly, grinning at him as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and slowly sat up. “I have class too… So I’m off, and then if you want to find me before your bio class, I usually eat lunch in the student center.”

“Right.”

“And you had better actually go once I leave,” she warned him sternly, poking him once more for good measure. “If you don’t, I will be forced to cut you.”

He snorted noisily, and then smacked her hand away before she could poke him again. “All right, warning received loud and clear. I’ll find you for lunch.”

“Cool,” she said, clearly pleased with her accomplishment. “Don’t get lost, have fun, bring money because they don’t accept credit cards.”

“All right,” he ground out, shooting her a pointed look as she sauntered out of his room. “Just go already!”

“And wear a smile,” she trilled, poking her head back in the door. “It’s the first day of school!”

He grabbed his pillow and hurled it at the door, but she had already ducked out of the way, laughter echoing in the small hallway. Giddy little twit. She had been like this last night too, extremely excited to start her classes, and it almost drove him to go for a midnight jog to avoid the craziness. Loki had attended a schooling of sorts while growing up, and he enjoyed it for what it was; Thor hated it. However, now that he was a grown man, he had no desire to sit in a classroom and listen to some imbecile talk about nonsense he didn’t care about. 

You know what else he didn’t care about? Orientation Week activities. Max seemed set on getting him to attend at least one function over the course of the next week as a way to ‘bond’ with his classmates, but Loki would have rather stabbed a fork in his eye. He had no desire to see a musical group perform, nor did he want to attend a dance, or a lecture about safe sexual practices. No, no, and definitely not. 

Max could prattle on about getting the college experience as much as she wanted, and Loki would pretend to listen, nod occasionally, but he wasn’t here to make friends or enjoy the “experience”. He was here to worm his way off this planet by any means necessary; there was a much higher chance of him acquiring new powers out in the universe where real magic actually existed, and this planet made him weary to experience it as a mortal. 

One step at a time. He had to remind himself of that fact daily. Every time he woke up still an ordinary, boring human with a weak body and a slightly clouded mind, he had to force himself to remember that this would not be a process that happened overnight. If anything, he could be out here as long as a month, perhaps two, before he persuaded Ludwick to get him anywhere of importance. Slow and steady, Loki; play the game. 

So, with that mentality in mind, Loki dragged himself out of bed to have a quick shower, merely a rinse, and then quickly dressed. He had noticed a pattern between the young men of the area whenever he and Max drifted outside for some reason or another, and he went with a more subdued version of it in order to blend. His outfit generally consisted of a pair of shortened pants to the knee and a t-shirt that hung loose around his frame. He had lost a great deal of muscle mass since arriving, and he assumed that was sapped out of him when Odin depleted his strength, which was why he was so keen on exercising. He wasn’t about to let this worthless human body let him down physically. 

Once he was dressed and had a bag packed with the notebook Max lent him, he grabbed a yoghurt cup to eat on the way and quickly slipped out the door. He pushed his feet into his shoes, which were finally starting to fit snugly, and then locked the door behind him. The sun was obnoxiously bright as he strolled down the street, careful to remain on the sidewalk at Max’s insistence. After having walked this town at least twice on his own and a few times with his new roommate, Loki found it fairly easy to navigate his way toward the college campus. However, once he was there, the place was swarming with teenagers and young adults, and it seemed everyone was trying to get in every direction, some as equally lost as he was, others on a mission with headphones stuck firmly in their ears. 

The one thing he hadn’t lost during his fall from Asgard was his memory. He had all of his class locations and times memorized, even though he only cared for one. Unfortunately, he did not have the campus memorized. It may not have been large, but there were quite a number of different buildings scattered everywhere in no particular order, and Loki spent a good fifteen minutes scrambling around trying to find Hilson Hall for his American History lecture. When he finally found the small building, he ducked inside, following a group of girls who were clearly looking for the same room based on the sheer volume of their ponderings about its location. 

He managed to spot the doors to the lecture hall before they did, and Loki darted in just as the class commenced. When he found a spot to sit at a desk near the back, Loki found himself glaring at the supposed professor as she wrote her name on a blackboard at the front. Her voice was too quiet to carry to the back of the room, and she saw fit to have students pass out sheets of paper that consisted of the term’s syllabus. Loki read it over, but only because he had no desire to listen to the woman talk about class policies and absence notices. There was a topic that they would address each week, and discussion group sessions on Fridays. There were two major essays to be written, and three exams. 

This was ridiculous. He spent the better part of the hour being irritated with everything. Why did he bother with this charade? Loki had absolutely no interest in American History, nor did he enjoy listening to people clack away around him on their laptops and cell phones. When the hour was finally up, he had no idea if he could actually fake his way through this if every single class was going to be like this. He may have to accelerate his plans with Ludwick in order to escape this farce sooner rather than later. The one thing he did notice was that most of the other students seemed equally unimpressed with both the professor and the course layout. 

“Two essays and three exams,” one girl moaned as they all filed out of the room. “What does she think, that I only take her class? I may drop this bullshit and pick up a psych course…”

“No, please don’t leave me! I can’t listen to her three times a week without you!”

Hmm. It only made him feel marginally better that there were others who also disliked what they just experienced, and he began to wonder if there were many other students out there taking courses they had no interest in. Max had whined to him about being forced into an introductory chemistry class in her first year; apparently, it was all about paying one’s dues before they could actually do what they wanted with their schooling. How absurd. 

Once he was outside Hilson Hall, he squared his shoulders and took a moment to gather the layout of the land before him. There were a lot of trees, flower beds brimming with the remainder of the summer’s crop, and students everywhere, filing in and out of brick brown buildings. Most had headphones in their ears, while others walked in herds, giggling and chatting noisily as though they owned the very space they tread upon. This was a dynamic that he had no ever experienced before on previous trips to Earth. For the most part, he dealt with older intellectuals, military strategists, and, well, vigilantes who could match his godly abilities with mutations of their own. Everyone here was so remarkably ordinary, and like Max, would surely have no impact on the world as a whole at any point in their lifetime. 

Loki felt very small standing among them. 

Sighing irritably, he readjusted the straps of his bag and then carried on into the mass of people, wrinkling his nose or glaring whenever someone cut him off or knocked into him. Honestly, there couldn’t be more than two thousand people total in this town – how on Earth was this campus so full of idiots? 

He had an hour to kill before Ludwick’s class, and although he would have preferred to simply walk to the classroom and wait, his stomach seemed to have other ideas in mind. His vigorous appetite had yet to cease, despite the fact he and Max could barely make an adequate meal between them, and he found himself gorging on slightly unhealthier options that the fast-food places had to offer in town. So, rather than lurking around the Biology and Natural Sciences Building for any longer than necessary, Loki attempted to navigate his way through the masses to find the Student Centre, and within in it Max. 

Shockingly, the Student Center was much easier to find than Hilson Hall, as it was the largest building on campus, and many seemed to flock toward it around the lunch hour. He simply needed to follow the group, and eventually he was pushing through the glass doors and into the cool building. It was dome-shaped with a glass roof, and the centre of it was lined with circular tables and chairs. Around those were an excessive amount of fast-food joints, all of which had lines. As Loki wandered in, ignoring the person he walked into as he studied the design of the building, he noticed that there were staircases at arbitrary points leading up to a second floor. Once he had assessed the place, he decided this was probably the nicest building in the entire town. 

Max wasn’t all that difficult to find. Seeing as she was the only person in this town that he really knew well, her face was easy to spot in the crowd. She was wearing her usual grey college sweatshirt, which was another indicator of her presence, and Loki kept his eye on her as he maneuvered through the tables and groups of people. It was incredibly loud in this building, something that he both reveled in and found extreme distaste for. His life had become such a balancing act. 

“Hey!” she greeted, her voice easy to detect over the other conversations, “Sit!”

She moved her bag off the chair next to her, and then shot a quick smile to the man seated on the other side of the table. Loki took quite stock of the fellow: tall, lanky, thin, hair that really ought to be cut or tied back, wide-brimmed glasses on a thin nose. 

“How was your first class?” she asked, her enthusiasm grating. “Was it worth getting up for?” He shot her a glare, and her smile faltered a little. “That bad, huh?”

“Atrocious,” he growled as he took half of the sandwich off her plate and took a bite. She almost protested, but he shot her another look the indicated he was in no mood for their usual banter, and she quickly fell silent. 

“Well, you’ve got biology next,” Max said finally, “so I bet that will cheer you up. By the way, this is my friend, Ben. He’s a TA with me.”

Loki forced a smile at the man, though he continued to chew, in no real mood for pleasantries. 

“Ben, this is my new roommate,” she continued, rolling her eyes a little. “Loki’s from England. He’s not normally a douche, I promise.”

He wasn’t sure what she had just called him, but he knew it wasn’t flattering. He took another bite of her sandwich ominously.

“Loki?” Ben repeated, nodding his head a few times, “That’s an interesting name.”

“So I’ve been told,” Loki managed finally. 

“Your parents wouldn’t happen to be mythology experts, would they?” the man continued, seemingly unperturbed by Loki’s annoyance. 

“Why?” Max inquired before Loki could respond. 

“Well, Loki is the Norse God of Mischief,” Ben informed her. “Statistically, it isn’t as common a name as Odin, but more common than Thor, though the female Norse goddesses seem to be the most common out of all of them. Freya is an incredibly popular name in many European countries.”

Loki blinked at the man, his insides twisting; had this fellow figured out his identity so quickly? Was he secretly a member of that blasted SHIELD corporation?

“Ben’s a theology grad student,” Max said quickly, her comment bringing Loki out of his temporary paranoia. “He’s also got a computer for a brain, so he’s got lots of fun facts up there.”

He stared at the man, wondering for a moment if Max was serious, and then cleared his throat. “My parents did have an interest in the Norse gods, yes.”

Ben nodded again, and Loki noticed his lunch tray was incredibly organized; all of his vegetables were lined up in a neat, orderly row, his drink and dip parallel to one another on either side of the tray, and his sandwich remained untouched in the center. 

“It’s actually a really exciting time for Norse mythology enthusiasts,” Ben carried on, unnecessarily adjusting a carrot. “I mean, with what happened in New York City this year with those Avengers and the actual Thor being sighted-"

“You think the God of Thunder is real?” Loki inquired sternly, his eyes locked with Ben’s to the point where the fellow actually blushed a little. 

“W-Well,” the man stammered, “I know people have said he had similar powers to the actual myth-"

“Ridiculous,” Loki remarked, trying to appear bored. “As if the gods were real.”

He couldn’t stand the thought of someone idolizing Thor right in the front of him, and it was certainly easier to make the man squirm than it was to listen to him prattle on. Besides, he did not need anyone arousing Max’s interest in what happened with the Avengers. He was sure it was online somewhere, but she seemed to have little interest with what happened nationally if it did not directly affect her, and he preferred to keep it that way. 

“I’m going to Ludwick’s class,” Loki said after a moment or so of tense silence. Max nodded and attempted to take her sandwich half back, but Loki managed to take a big enough bite to claim it for himself. 

“You’re an ass.”

He shot her a smile, cheeks puffed with bread and whatever else was nestled in there, and then turned to depart. Hopefully his skepticism had firmly put all thoughts of Thor out of Ben’s mind, though that became a distant concern as he marched through the Student Center. Once outside, he had to reorient himself in order to find the location of his biology class, but he finally found a helpful map of the entire campus positioned on a large board near the domed building. He scanned it and quickly found the location he needed, and was pleased to see that it was only two buildings away from the Student Center. So, backpack wrapped around his shoulders, Loki set off with a determination to win over this Edgar Ludwick, space researcher, within this first lesson. 

He was a little early for the lecture this time around, which meant he chose a seat right up at the front. The desks were built for two people, but as more students filed in, Loki placed his bag on the other chair in an effort to dissuade anyone from sitting next to him. The plan worked, and when it seemed like everyone who was going to arrive had done so, he had the entire desk to himself. Excellent. Now, he planned to look fully engaged, ask insightful questions, and laugh at whatever horrendous joke this reclusive scientist had to offer. He had lived through Erik Selvig for long enough; he knew how to handle these sorts of people. 

The door to the classroom opened once more, and the students around him quieted almost instantly. Loki glanced back, eager to see the one person in this awful town that he actually cared about, and then frowned as a dumpy young woman walked to the front of the classroom. 

“Hi,” she said unceremoniously, a stack of papers in her hand, “I’m Crystal, and I’ll be for TA for the year. Professor Ludwick got held up in a meeting and couldn’t make this lecture, but we were just going to go over the syllabus and answer general questions. So… Does anyone have any general questions?”

The room fell silent, and Loki could actually feel himself twitching in rage. He had been waiting for this day ever since he realized this man could be his way off this planet, and the man didn’t even have the decency to show up to the lesson! 

“Okay, so if there aren’t any questions, you can grab a syllabus at the front, or print it at home. See you Wednesday.”

He glared at the woman as she placed the stack of papers at the end of his desk, and then departed as quickly as she arrived. This was… insanity. A few people drifted up to the front to grab a sheet of paper, and he could hear the rest of them dispersing from the room. Loki stayed glued to his seat, unable to bring himself out of it to leave. It was as though this Ludwick character had every way possible to avoid him, and he was doing it successfully. 

He reached out stiffly and took the syllabus, and then stuffed it in his bag without bothering to read it over. A calming breath soon followed, and he assured himself that he could try to earn Ludwick’s attention on Wednesday, which wasn’t really all the far away. Slow and steady. Patience. 

After sitting and glaring at the blackboard for some time, Loki eventually pushed himself out of his seat and left the room. He had the option of returning home, but there was one more class the finish the day with. For some reason, the woman who made his schedule seemed to think he was a history buff and had loaded him up with an Art History class on top of everything. If it was anything like the lesson he had this morning, Loki definitely did not want to attend. However, as he strolled through the cool corridors of the biology building, he remembered that Art History was what Max had a degree in from her first time around at the college. If she could do it, Loki was sure he would be competent enough to get through it. 

So, with that in mind, he returned to the large map to chart his way back to Hilson Hall from his current location, and was forced to wait outside the room until the current class came to an end. There was a pair of girls already waiting, and Loki had the unfortunate luck to make eye contact with one. She smiled, and Loki quickly forced a smile in return and pretended to rummage around in her bag. He had a sinking suspicion they might try to engage in conversation with him. Mercifully enough, just as one of them started to direct her conversation over toward him, the door to the classroom opened and students flooded out. Pleased, Loki darted in through the swarm and managed to find himself a seat off to the side. Unfortunately, the girls followed closely, and picked the two desks in front of him to occupy. 

He continued to pretend to have something fascinating at the bottom of his bag for quite some time, until he felt the presence of someone standing directly beside him. It was a little too close to ignore, and Loki frowned as he looked up. 

“Surprise!” Max said with a smirk. “Guess who is your TA for this course?”

“Oh, don’t let me guess,” Loki sighed, the tension in his shoulders easing a bit. “Is it Ben?”

“You know, you could have gone a little easier on him,” she reprimanded, nudging his shoulder a little with her hand. “I mean… You kind of ruthlessly stomped on his happy bubble with a few words. Kind of harsh.”

“Maybe he needed a fresh dose of honesty,” Loki told her, which made her roll her eyes. “Don’t you think it’s a tad unethical that you’ll be looking over my work when we live together?”

“Oh, I’m not the only TA,” she insisted as she nodded up to the front. “There’s four of us… I’ve already told the prof about our relationship, so, uhm…” She trailed off, tucking her hair behind her ear, a faint hint of colour on her cheeks. “Uh, so I just won’t grade any of your stuff.”

“Oh, good,” Loki chuckled, “because I’m sure you’d be merciless.” 

The girl sucked in her cheeks a little as she tried not to laugh, and then waved a quick farewell as a dapper professor marched up the front of the classroom. He was a little older, perhaps mid-century for humans, slim, and clad in an unfortunate clash of stripes. 

“Afternoon everyone,” the professor greeted, his voice a notch too high for a man, which made Loki smirk a little. “My name is Frank Russ and I’ll be your guide to the history of art. Well, an introduction to it, anyway! I’ve got four lovely TAs that will take the majority of your work to mark, so be nice, ladies and gents.”

There was a titter of laughter, though Loki remained quiet. Thrilling. Just exhilarating, this fellow. 

“Okay, so we’re going to go over the syllabus today, and our first actual lecture will be next time…”

Oh for goodness sake. No. He wasn’t staying for this tripe again. Loki grabbed his backpack and stood up, and as quietly as he could, sauntered through the desks and quickly left the room. Max may have been able to do this course, and by default Loki would be fine at it, but he wasn’t going to sit there for another hour as the professor read something he could do in five minutes on his own. Ridiculous waste of time. 

“Loki!”

He only stopped after Max called his name twice more, and finally turned around just as she came to a stop in front of him. 

“Where are you going?” she asked, her voice a little breathy; clearly, she had been exerting herself in those ten paces down the corridor. 

“Home,” he replied. “These introduction lectures are a huge waste of my time. I can read a sheet of paper just as well as the professor can, shockingly enough.”

“But he talks about other things too,” Max insisted, grabbing hold of his arm before he could walk off again. “I mean, he elaborates, and he’ll answer questions if you have any.”

“Max,” Loki said firmly, “I’m going home. I’ll see you after.”

“You can’t miss classes on the first day,” she argued weakly, her grip tightening on him. “I mean, we have a name game planned so everyone can get to… get to know each other…” She trailed off as his eyebrows shot up, and she sighed. “Yeah, okay, go home.”

“Don’t look so sad, Max,” he chuckled as he gently pried her hand off his arm. “We do live together, you know… You’ll get to see my smiling face soon.”

The girl rolled her eyes, “Shut up. I’m only doing this for the betterment of your education.”

“Right,” he said with a laugh. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

They stared at one another for a moment, and Loki was the first to turn away. He glanced over his shoulder as he approached the exit, and she was still standing there, arms folded, shaking her head at him. Honestly, the effort she put into sorting out his fake school career was just astounding…


	8. Beer Pong Champions

The first week of school had been actually much more stress free than Max had expected. She only had four classes of her own for the term, and then the introduction to art history that she was a teacher’s assistant with. It wasn’t necessarily a free week for her, but she had enough time to pull two four hour shifts at the campus bookstore during the week without feeling like it was too hectic. The classes thus far were similar to ones she had done over the last two years, but with more in-depth examinations of exhibit detailing, management tactics, curatorial science, and one course that dealt with her area of interest: weaponry. Yeah, she liked artwork, sculptures, and grand exhibits of reconstructed history, but Max had always been interested in weapons, from the bow to the canon to the tank, and she was really excited to finally be getting a more hands-on approach to studying what she enjoyed in one of her classes. 

Even the introductory course with her undergraduate students was fun because it was a great refresher, and after attending three of the lectures this week, she knew it was going to be a good year. Her professor was funny and intelligent, the other TAs were all hardworking grad students that shared her interests, and it was actually kind of cool to have her roommate in the course with her as a way to get feedback from the undergrad perspective. 

Mind you, that would be a lot easier if her dear roommate actually showed up to class. He left Monday’s introductory lecture early, did not show up on Wednesday, and was only present today, Friday, because Max relentlessly harassed him that morning. Now, in her final undergrad years she definitely hadn’t gone to every single one of her classes, but that was because she earned that right. She spent her first two years gauging which classes she could get away with skipping and which classes she definitely couldn’t, and she went from there. However, Loki only seemed interested in going to his bio class, which was fair enough seeing as that class and that prof were the reasons he decided to come to St. Judith’s. However, she still stood behind what she told him on the first day; if he failed his other four classes, they would boot him out on academic merit alone. 

She didn’t need to fuss over Loki. He was a grown man, and she was sure he could figure out what would happen if he didn’t attend his classes. However, she sort of felt bad for him; here he was in a new country to attend a school to be taught by a man she perceived to be as his hero, and he had no support from his family, very few friends, and seemed to be carrying a lot of baggage from his previous life with him. It must have sucked, to be honest. Max wanted him to feel excited about life again, to actually enjoy his undergraduate years; despite how much she complained during it, they were some of her favourite years with her friends, and Loki had every right to experience that!

Plus she had a little bit of a crush on him: that had to make a difference. It wasn’t a big enough crush to interfere with their living situation, and it hadn’t amplified any since she first realized she was prone to feeling a little giddy around the guy. In all honesty, it would probably blow off in a month or so, and they could laugh about it by Christmas… or maybe Easter. She hadn’t ever had a crush on a roommate before, but she took it as a sign that they were compatible enough to live together, which could be a great sign for the future. However, it was a little difficult not to feel stupid when she needlessly laughed at something he said, or caught herself staring at him while they were eating one of their shared meals on the kitchen island. However, it wasn’t a concern to her; Max wasn’t one to feel flustered by her feelings. It was all natural, and if she felt an attraction toward someone, she wasn’t about to guilt it out of herself.

Well, she might. It had been a habit when she was in her late teens, but now that she was getting into her late twenties, it seemed like an exhausting waste of time. Besides, Loki hadn’t given any indication that he noticed or cared about a little crush, and he hadn’t been acting any different toward her since the small crush developed, so… whatever.

Tonight was the first Friday of the new school term, and everyone was officially back in town. She had a fairly large circle of decent friends, and within it a smaller circle of close friends. Patricia would always be her best friend, and since she left there hadn’t been anyone in Masonville that was able to fill that position. Just as she said, Patricia had gone back to New York City once her week was up, and they had been in touch a few times since. It was sad to see her go, but she couldn’t dwell on it; there were other things to do on the first Friday of the new term! 

Loki was fairly neutral when she told him that morning that Ben and his roommates were hosting a party that night down the street, but she spent the entire day working on a speech that would nag him into going. 

Thus far, it was not going well. 

“But you’ll get to meet so many new people,” she argued weakly. Her speech seemed to have little effect on the man, and he stared over the edge of his biology textbook at her, eyebrows raised. “I mean, you can’t spend your first Friday reading biology…”

“Max,” he said firmly, readjusting himself in the couch corner a little, “I don’t care about meeting new people. I thought I had made that perfectly clear.”

“But you can’t just have me for a friend here,” she insisted, poking his knee as she sat cross-legged on the coffee table. “We don’t have to go for long.”

“We don’t have to go anywhere,” he argued, finally closing his book and setting it beside him. “You can go by yourself… You don’t need me to accompany you everywhere.”

“No, I don’t,” she agreed, “but you should do it for yourself. Once we get into the school year, you’ll be busy all the time and you’ll wish you went out when you had the chance. Besides, what if I promise you you’ll have a great time?”

“I sincerely doubt you can promise me that,” Loki told her frankly. He then rolled his eyes, his shoulders slumping a little. “I also doubt you’ll leave me alone until I agree to go with you.”

“Aww, you know me so well.” Max chuckled as she smiled triumphantly. “We can just go in, introduce you around, drink a little, and then head out. We’ll go for an hour, tops… unless you’re having fun.”

“Drink a little what, exactly?” he asked as she slid off the coffee table to her feet. “I refuse to drink any of that horrific swill I had on my first night here.”

“Swill?” 

“It’s a—"

“I know what swill is, but who says that?” Max snorted. “I’m going to change, and then we can head out around ten. It’s a kegger, so we’ll be drinking beer… No vodka for you, pumpkin.” 

“What?”

“Never mind,” she sighed as she sauntered back to her room. “Just be ready to go in twenty minutes.”

“I’m ready now.”

“Well… Keeping reading about evolution or something until I’m ready.”

“Fine.”

He still did not seem impressed with the idea, but she couldn’t stop smiling at the fact that she had persuaded him to go anyway. Despite her failings with her initial speech about the good times she had during her first year at parties, it seemed like it all went a lot better once they actually started talking to one another. It was easy to make him see reason… or annoy him enough that he realized the alternative was a lot better. 

Once in her room, she opted for a pair of fitted dark jeans and a purple v-neck t-shirt. It was still warm enough in the first week of September to get away with not wearing a coat, but based on next week’s forecast, this might be the only night of the month where she didn’t need anything more than a t-shirt. With the outfit sorted, she quickly darted into the bathroom to throw on a bit more make-up than the usual mascara. Loki was still on the couch when she peaked back in, feet up on the coffee table, book in his arms, and she couldn’t help but roll her eyes. 

She studied just as hard as any average student, if not more. However, everyone needed a night off every now and again or they’d burn out, and if he simply sat in his room and read through his textbooks every night, as he had been doing, burnout was where he was headed. If he wasn’t reading his textbooks, he was watching the news. If he wasn’t watching the news, he was jogging. If he wasn’t jogging, she was harassing him to do something. It wasn’t a good cycle. 

With her make-up taken care of—this time a little cover-up and some eyeshadow to accompany the mascara—Max turned on her curler and sat on the toilet as the device heated up. Normally, she had a book in the bathroom, but she had taken it out before Loki moved in because she was worried he might judge her a little. However, it was moments like these where she contemplated moving it back in. Let him think what he wanted… Maybe he could do with a book while he was doing a number two! 

Awkward thought. 

Once the curler was warm enough, she set about taming some of the frizzy waves into nice curls, and spent a good ten minutes in battle. However, as usual, she got fairly bored after she got through one layer of hair, and hoped that would be good enough to cover the entire head. She gave herself a once over in the mirror and then nodded, pleased that it looked like she put in some effort, but not too much. 

“Max,” she heard Loki whine from the living room, “it’s five after ten. Are we leaving or not?”

“Yes,” she groaned, rolling her eyes a little as she turned off the bathroom light and then ducked back into her room. She managed to slide her sleek phone into her pocket, and then grabbed a twenty from her wallet. She had learned a long time ago that it was unwise to bring a purse to a party, even if the hosts were personal friends. 

“Max…”

“I’m coming,” Max snapped. “Fuck.”

“This is cutting into our hour at the party,” Loki told her, and she spotted him standing near the door, shoes already on. He certainly looked fetching in a pair of light jeans, fitted just right, and a plain white t-shirt. And flip-flops. He was like a surfer. A sexy British surfer. Max shook her head. 

“The hour didn’t start at ten,” she told him, rolling her eyes a little as she grabbed her key off the counter. “It starts when we get there.”

“Well, let’s get there, shall we?”

“Dude, calm down,” she laughed as he opened the front door. Max pulled on a pair of flats and hurried out after him. “When was the last time you were at a party?”

“A very long time,” he replied. He stood out on their front cement porch, arms folded as he stared at the empty parking lot in front of the apartment building. “Eons, it seems…”

“Guess we’ll have to start making up for that,” Max told him. She quickly locked the front door and then hopped off the cement porch, coming to his side as they strolled toward the street. Ben only lived a few streets over, so there was no need to call a taxi or take the bus. 

The night was beautiful: the perfect temperature and a sky filled with stars. She smiled as she gazed upward, and then hastily nudged Loki. 

“Look!” she ordered. “You can see the Big Dipper tonight!”

“The what?”

“The Big Dipper,” Max repeated, pointing out the constellation with her finger. “It’s shaped like a big spoon.”

“What a clever name,” Loki droned as he stared up, squinting a little. “I’m not even sure where to look.”

“I’ll find you a picture,” Max insisted as she pulled up her phone and dragged up the wireless option. She then searched for a quick image to present to him. “See… It’s shaped like a spoon.”

He stared down at her screen, and then tilted himself back up to study the sky. “Oh, yes, I see it now.”

She pursed her lips as she slipped her phone back into her pocket, and then stared at him for a moment. “You don’t see it, do you?”

“No.”

“Whatever, let’s go,” she chuckled as she started walking again. 

They crossed the street quickly, despite the fact there wasn’t a car in sight, and then strolled along until they reached the turning point for Ben’s street. It was all student housing around the college, and as they walked, they passed several house parties well underway. 

“Hey man,” a guy slurred as they marched passed the spot he was leaning on against a fence. “You want a beer?”

For a moment, Loki looked as though he was contemplating taking the stranger’s spare red cup of mysterious alcohol. Stunned, Max grabbed his arm and tugged him away. 

“Don’t take anyone’s drink,” she told him firmly. “You never know what they put in it… Always make your own.”

“I wasn’t going to take it,” he assured her. “I may be a little ignorant, but I’m not an imbecile, Max.”

“Well, you hesitated,” Max said, quirking an eyebrow at him. “I had to be sure.”

He sighed and she shot him a grin. They received several more offers of alcohol and various kinds of drugs on the walk down to Ben’s, and Max had almost forgotten what the majority of September was like on weekend nights; people were crazy. They were all back together with friends they had missed for the summer, or were finally away from their parents again and could partake in the college experience. Loki seemed to be studying each party they passed curiously, and she wondered if they had these sorts of things in England. 

They arrived at Ben’s house shortly after, and there were a few people seated on the lawn chairs in the front. She only knew two of them, but she greeted everyone and introduced herself to the ones she didn’t know. In high school, she hadn’t been an overly confident person, but age brought that about, and having a wide circle of friends meant there was some sort of comfort at these sorts of things. Usually, even if she didn’t know some of the people at parties, she usually knew the majority, so making conversation was never too difficult. 

She made sure to introduce Loki around, and to his credit he actually looked quite friendly. Maybe he and Ben could make peace after their tense lunch conversation earlier in the week; it couldn’t have been tense for Loki, but Ben seemed a little put down afterward. Normally people entertained his theories about various deities because it was polite to do so, but Loki shot him down without a second thought. Harsh. 

“So, it’s ten bucks for the keg from everybody,” her friend Jeff explained as he rose from the mismatched lawn chair. “I’ve got change if you need it.”

“Here’s a twenty for both of us,” Max said before Loki could inform her he hadn’t brought any money, which was becoming a bit of a pattern lately. However, she forced him to come here, so she figured the only decent thing to do would be to pay for his entrance. 

Jeff thanked her, and she tugged at Loki’s arm, directing him toward the actual house. Ben lived with three other grad students that Max had known since she was an undergrad, and she felt almost as comfortable in his house as she did in her own. It was a cosy two-storey place with a lot of furniture that looked like it had been collected and thrown together over the years. The kitchen was always a mess, and the upstairs was a sauna in the summer, but the boys had been happy enough to live there all these years, so there must have been something good about it. Normally, it was pretty small, but with at least two dozen extra people scattered in the living room, kitchen, and trailing into the backyard, it felt completely crammed. Loki followed closely behind her, and when she glanced back, he wore an irritated look as he observed the ongoing festivities.

“So, welcome to an American party,” she told him over the music. “Normally it’s a lot smaller, but I guess everyone was really down for a party tonight.”

“What are they doing?” Loki asked. He nodded behind her, and she turned back to spy a group of people dancing near the laptop-speaker conjunction in the corner of the living room. There was one couple grinding fairly excessively, but the rest of the singletons were jumping around, drinks in hand, laughing, swaying, stumbling. 

“They’re dancing,” she replied, raising her eyebrows. “What, do they dance differently in England?”

“Well, we don’t look like we’re somewhere between sex and a seizure back home,” Loki mused, which made her chuckle a little; it was a pretty accurate observation. 

“Come on,” Max laughed, tugging him away from the scene. “Let’s get a drink.”

As predicted, she found the keg in the kitchen, but it took about fifteen minutes to get there through all the people who wanted to say hello or ask about her summer. Loki loomed behind her, clearly not interested in partaking in conversation unless someone spoke directly to him. However, once again to his credit, his face seemed much calmer than she expected, not quite as annoyed as she was sure he was feeling. She introduced him all around, and there were a few people that seemed interested in him simply because he was a foreign object in a normally familiar, boring territory.

“Max!”

“Ben, hey!” she greeted, slipping through a couple to give her friend a hug. “Thanks for the invite.”

“Oh yeah,” he said with a smile, running a hand through his hair. “I figured you… Oh, you brought Loki.”

“I didn’t want him sitting home alone on a Friday night when I knew you’d be having a great party,” Max reasoned. “He promised to be nice. He isn’t normally a jerk.”

“I didn’t assume as much,” her friend told her. “I’ll go say hello.”

“Good man,” she said, giving him a smile. Max then finally managed to get over to the keg, and she filled two cups with whatever dark liquid came out of it. She took a cautious sniff; she had no plans to get trashed tonight, and she didn’t want to have anything too strong. Loki seemed to share her sentiment based on the aversion to vodka she had created, and she didn’t want to put him off drinking for good; what else do undergrads do?

She found her way back to Loki, but Ben had already taken him under his wing and was showing him off to some of the people out in the backyard. Loki shook hands stiffly with a few of the guys camped out on the sketchy picnic table, and just as she was about to approach, she was cut off by a sea of black hair. 

“Hey, girl,” Erica greeted, smiling her usual sweet smile. “It’s been forever!”

“Yeah, hey,” Max agreed. “How are you?”

She wasn’t especially close with Erica; the girl was on the outer rim of her friendship circle, and had been there ever since she slept with her ex a few weeks after they broke up. At this point, Max didn’t care all that much because it was well over three years ago, but it had always left a poor taste in her mouth. They had been better friends before the incident, and after Max spent a while being frosty toward the curvaceous English major, she got over it and moved on. Sort of. 

“So, who is that guy you came with?” Erica asked as she linked her arm around Max’s. “He’s gorgeous.”

“Oh, he’s my new roommate, Loki,” Max replied honestly. 

“Introduce me as soon as possible,” Erica ordered, shooting her a wink before drifting off back toward the backdoor of the house. Max forced a smile and nodded. 

Fuck that. 

Shaking her head, she hurried back to Loki and handed him his drink. He gave some sort of strangled laugh at the joke Ben’s roommate Corey was telling, and then took a sip, which was followed by a cough. 

“This is atrocious,” he hissed. Max winced a little at the irritation in his eyes as he glared at her, and then gulped some down: a mixture of beer and clearly whatever else was around the house. Awesome. 

“Yup, it’s pretty bad,” Max agreed apologetically. “Drink slow.”

Loki rolled his eyes and took another small sip, grimacing. 

“So, Max,” she heard Corey start, “I heard you and Pat were undefeated at beer pong last time we did this?”

“Correct, my good sir,” Max chuckled, smirking a little. “I play to kill.”

“I’ll take that challenge,” Corey told her as he down the remainder of his drink. “Bet the summer left you a little rusty.”

“Horseshit, the summer makes me awesome,” Max argued, watching as he and his other roommate, Garret, cleared off the picnic table. A few scattered people around the backyard paused to give them a little bit of attention, but when they saw Garret setting up the cup formation for beer pong, the chatting and laughing resumed; it was a pretty long, tedious game for the audience, after all. 

“What’s happening?” Loki inquired as he too watched the preparations. 

“Oh, we’re going to play beer pong,” Max told him, pleased that she had found an even better way to integrate him into her group of friends. “It’s fun.”

She took his drink and set both of them down on the closed barbeque nearby. Ben appeared moments later with what seemed to be a cup of water and a pitcher of whatever was in the keg, and he commenced filling the cups with a small amount for either team. 

“We are not doing anything—"

“It’ll be fun,” Max insisted. “Okay, so we basically try to get that tiny ball into the other team’s cup, and when we do, they drink it. If we miss, we lose our turn and they get to go. If they get one in ours, we drink. That’s… That’s the basic rundown of it.”

There were so many other little rules here and there, but she figured she could get them in as the game wore on. 

“What’s the point of it?” Loki inquired dryly. Max shrugged. 

“Drink slowly and competitively?” she asked, glancing across the table at Garret. He shrugged too. “We just do it for fun. There doesn’t need to be another reason.”

As usual, he was reluctant to do anything that he wasn’t completely comfortable with, but Max used the same line as always, “How do you know you don’t like it unless you try?”

The glare he shot her this time was quite menacing, but it meant that she won once again. Pleased, she took up her position on her end of the picnic table. 

“Oh, and we can defend our cups,” Max told him. “And we can—"

“How about I watch and do what you do?” Loki asked tightly. “I’m sure it doesn’t take a genius to play this game…”

“You’d be surprised at the level of coordination it takes to get a ball of this size and lightness into a cup, depending on the distance and level of intoxication,” Ben interjected before Max could come up with a witty retort. “Usually, the game can last for well over a half an hour to an hour based on those factors alone, not considering the strength of the drink-“

“Okay, Ben,” Garret sighed. “Can you just flip the coin?”

“Oh, right,” the shaggy-haired man chuckled, retrieving a quarter and flipping it up. “Call it!”

“Heads!” Max shouted before Garret could get his say in. She grinned when it landed in her favour, which meant she and Loki could start. She snatched the ball from Ben and then shifted into her proper stance. “Prepare to drink, bitches.”

* * *

Loki still didn’t quite understand the point of this ‘beer pong’ game, but somehow they won in about forty minutes. It didn’t appear that the purpose was to get drunk, as there were only small amounts of alcohol in each cup, and he could understand how it might go on for long periods of time. He actually managed to get that pesky little ball into a few cups, though he missed several. No one seemed to mind, though there were a few teasing comments thrown his way by his new “friends”. Most of the time that Corey fellow couldn’t get a ball in either, and twice they had to search for it in the grass when he missed by a longshot. 

He hadn’t wanted to come out tonight. He had no intentions of attending some human party crawling with drunk people and inferior beings. The only kind of party he wanted to go to was one thrown by the Asgardians in his honour, but that seemed a long way away: wishful thinking at its finest. 

Normally, he was quite good about holding his own against Max, but she had been especially irritating today. She harangued him all morning about not going to any of his classes aside from the one he cared about with Ludwick, and was then especially persistent about getting him off that couch that evening. If he tried hard enough, he could still scare most humans off with a glare and a warning, but Max seemed completely oblivious to his threats. 

If only she knew about the real rage that simmered just beneath the surface… Well, perhaps she wouldn’t push him so hard all the time. Unfortunately, she had been right – again – and Loki was actually having an adequate time out of the house. The game had been just enjoyable enough to keep him mildly entertained, mostly because of Max’s competitiveness and her playful banter with the boys. Besides, it wasn’t like he was in a terrible mood that day; Ludwick had complimented him on a particularly thoughtful answer he gave in the lecture on organic compounds, and he earned a smile he hadn’t seen given to other students. This all meant progress: slow and steady progress. 

And now at this little gathering thrown by the all-knowing Ben – he scoffed at the thought – Loki had actually managed to rub a few people the right way. It never hurt to have a few more allies on one’s rise to power, and some of them were engineers-in-training, along with another young scientist. Networking like this might prove more effective than he anticipated, and perhaps one day he might thank Max for all the effort she put in for him.

But then again, he might not. What would one human matter when he is returned to a godly status?

“So, you’re into science, huh?”

Loki sighed. Max had left him with Ben to go find a bathroom some time ago, complaining about feeling a little sick. They hadn’t had much to drink, and it was fairly clear that they had the same tolerance for alcohol. Loki wondered if it might have been the fish they prepared for dinner that night; he knew it wasn’t cooked fully.

“Yes,” Loki replied, staring down at his red cup filled with that horrendous liquid. He had picked it back up after the game, but he had no desire to drink any of it for the remainder of the night. His hour at this house had come and gone, and he was itching to go home and crawl into bed. “I like science.”

“That’s great,” Ben managed, clearly grasping at nothing to keep this exhausted conversation going. “Do you have any plans for it?”

“Not currently.”

“Okay.”

“Finally,” Loki groaned when he spotted Max come traipsing out the back door and into the yard. “I think I might be going. Thank you for hosting this… event.”

Ben stared at him for a moment, and then nodded. “Yeah, man, it was great you came down…”

Loki frowned when he saw his roommate stumble to the side and cling to the fence, clutching at her stomach as she doubled over. That certainly wasn’t normal behaviour. He was soon on his feet, hurrying across the yard to investigate; if she was going to be physically sick, she might as well do it here and spare their bathroom the stench. 

“Loki,” she whimpered, her eyes out of focus when he kneeled down in front of her, “I don’t… I don’t really feel good.”

He pressed a hand to her forehead out of habit. “Do you think it was the fish?”

“N-No,” she stammered.

“Hey, are you okay?” Ben inquired as he joined the conversation, kneeling down to push some hair out of her face. It was at that moment that Loki noticed the boy’s complete and utter infatuation with his roommate; did Max have any idea?

“Something doesn’t feel right,” Max replied weakly. She grasped at Loki’s wrist. “I want to go home.”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Loki remarked. “Let’s…stand up then, shall we?”

“No,” she whined. “No, I don’t want to.”

“Is she drunk?” Ben asked. “I don’t remember seeing her drink much more than what you did at the game.”

“Been paying close attention, have we?” Loki mused. He smirked a little and then returned his attention to Max. “Right, what’s the problem?”

“Stuff isn’t moving right,” she told him, which made him sigh. “Please take me home.”

“All right, but you have to stand up first,” Loki told her, his patience dwindling with each passing moment. Sandwiched between Ben and the fence was not a place he wanted to be. “Here, give me your hands.”

She placed a pair of shaky hands in his, and he realized she was sweating, her eyes still unfocused.

“Ben,” someone called sharply, which made both men looked up. “Hey man, can you call the cops?”

“What?” Ben asked, rising to his feet quickly, “Why?”

“Tiff found some asshole Corey invited trying to spike her drink,” the new arrival explained. “We’ve got him locked in the closet.”

“Jeez,” Ben groaned, turning back to Max and kneeling down again. “Max, did you drink something that wasn’t yours?”

She shook her head, and Loki quickly realized what had happened. 

“Okay, but you put your drink down to play beer pong, didn’t you?” the man asked. The girl merely stared at Loki, eyes a haze, and asked him to take her home. Ben shook his head. “Don’t take her anywhere. I’m going to get a police officer over, and then we should take her to the hospital.”

Loki watched the man retrieve a mobile device from his pocket and then dart off to make the call. His jaw clenched; he couldn’t have a police officer come by. He couldn’t risk any law official finding him; he had no idea how far S.H.I.E.L.D. could reach, but he wasn’t going to take that risk. 

“Max,” he said firmly, giving her shoulders a bit of a shake. “Would you like me to carry you home?” 

She nodded, muttering something softly under her breath. He rolled his eyes a little and then turned around, grasping both arms and wrapping them around his neck. In one fluid movement, he hoisted her up and she snaked her legs around his waist. Luckily, her weight was small enough for him to move unhindered, and he made his escape through the back gate. He moved them quickly down the pathway to the sidewalk, and then began retracing his previous steps back to their apartment. 

He could hear a siren one street over, but at that point they were nearly home, and Loki was pleased he had avoided any sort of entanglement with the law. If Max wasn’t sorted by the following morning, he would find her medical attention. For now, he planned to put her to sleep on the couch so that she didn’t die during the night in bed, and then spend some time researching the location of a certain Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Bruce Banner. Their information surely wouldn’t be blatantly sprawled on the first online site he checked with Max’s laptop, but he was sure someone somewhere had recorded at least one of their movements since the incident earlier in the year. 

“Loki,” he heard her whisper, her head resting against his. 

“Yes?”

“Did you have some fun tonight?” Max asked, her speech a little slurred. 

“Oh, aside from this?” he asked. She was silent, and he glanced to the side to make sure she was still conscious. She was, but it seemed only barely. “Yes, tonight was acceptable.”

“Good,” Max murmured, nuzzling his neck in a way that made him a little uncomfortable. “I just wanted you to have some fun.”

“Well, I… You did well, Max,” he managed, readjusting his grip on her thin legs as their apartment loomed nearby. “Please don’t retch on me.”

“Okay,” she sighed dreamily. “Good night…”

Oh, for the love of all things good… 

Loki sighed irritably; this was going to be a long night.


	9. Lightning Strikes

When Max felt herself come to, she felt like absolute hell. Her limbs shook, her stomach screamed, and everything felt like someone had beat the holy hell out of her sometime during the night. Her eyes resisted her bidding to open for a short time, but when they finally did, she discovered she was on the living room couch with absolutely no recollection of how she got there. The blinds were still down over the windows, blocking out the sun from the kitchen and by the front door: what a blessing. Although it pained her, she managed to get herself up and into a sitting position, her duvet rolling down her body as she moved. It didn’t feel much better to be vertical, but her arm had fallen asleep, and it was pretty obvious she had been in one position since she passed out. 

Scratching at her scalp, she groaned a little and spotted Loki sprawled out on the other couch, the one usually reserved for coats and unwanted pillows. He was still wearing the same outfit from yesterday, minus the shoes, and Max suddenly noticed that she was still in her jeans and t-shirt. He had an arm thrown over his face, her laptop under his legs, and several mugs scattered across the coffee table. 

What the hell had happened? Why were they in the living room? She couldn’t place anything that had happened at the party after they won their game of beer pong, and she started to feel herself panic. Why couldn’t she remember? She had never experienced a blackout episode because she was too drunk; yes, she had been really, really wasted out of her mind before, but there were never incidents in her drinking history where she had zero recollection of an entire night after a certain point. Plus she was experiencing a wicked hangover, even worse than the one induced from her and Loki’s vodka adventure. All she wanted to do was curl up somewhere and go back to the unconsciousness. However, now that she was awake, that seemed fairly unlikely. 

With a hand on the back of the couch, she managed to push herself shakily to her feet, only to have her stomach do cartwheels and send her flying down to the bathroom. She slammed the door behind her and proceeded to empty her entire gut out into the toilet, eyes watering at the violent upheaval. Something had to have happened at that party to get her like this, because had had only had maybe one full beer from her beer pong shots combined, and then whatever was in the keg. She wasn’t sure if Loki felt like this, but he didn’t look quite as wrecked as she did. She puked one and off for a good ten minutes or so, and when it finally felt like there was nothing left inside, she flushed and leaned back against the bathtub, shaking and teeth chattering. 

What the fuck? Seriously. 

Groaning a little, she managed to get herself to her feet to wash her face and rinse her mouth out, and then quickly brush her teeth. She may have felt atrocious on the inside, but she didn’t need to have caked on make-up and morning breath for the outside. Once she was finished there, she staggered back to her room and started to strip out of her tight jeans. There were indent marks down her legs and around her waist, and she kicked off her underwear in order to slip into a pair of her comfiest sweatpants. She then dragged her t-shirt over her head and threw it on the floor, followed shortly by her bra, which had also left marks on her body. 

“Oh, oh you’re… shirtless,” she heard Loki stammer from her open doorway, and she felt the heat rise in her cheeks. Thank God she had been facing the other way, or she would have totally flashed him. However, she definitely wasn’t in the mood or headspace to actually care that much that he had seen her, and she quickly threw on a sweater and sauntered back out the living room. 

“Sorry,” Loki muttered as he leaned against the kitchen island, arms folded across his chest. “I saw you were up and I just wanted to check—”

“It’s fine,” she said shortly, waving off his embarrassment and then plopping herself back down on the couch. She then wrapped herself in her duvet and leaned against the back of the couch, her body an absolute nightmare from all the movement. “Did I get drugged?”

“You did, actually,” he informed her, and her eyebrows shot up in surprise. It hadn’t been a serious question; Max sort of just assumed something in the keg knocked her out. Loki cleared his throat and then eased himself onto one of the bar stools, hands resting on his knees. “Ben said some girl caught someone trying to put something in her drink… We assumed it happened to you and you consumed it, so I took you home.”

“Oh my god,” she moaned in disbelief, rubbing her hands across her face. “That’s… That’s fucking ridiculous. Are you serious?”

“We only went on assumption,” Loki remarked, “but you weren’t yourself when we left… You seemed far more intoxicated than you ought to have been for what you drank.”

“Okay, okay, that makes a little bit of sense,” Max muttered, nodding her head a little. “Why didn’t we go to the hospital? I might have needed to get my stomach pumped, or something…”

“Well, I used my best judgement with that,” he told her stiffly, and she realized she might have come across as ungrateful. “You seemed a little drowsy, but otherwise fine. You fell asleep once I put you on the couch and got your shoes off.”

“You took me shoes off?” she chuckled. He nodded, discomfort plain on his face, and she smiled. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“It seemed like the only decent thing to do,” Loki told her. “Who knows what would have happened if I left you with your little friend…”

“What?”

“Ben,” Loki said, his eyes suddenly alight mischievously. “You know he’s a little bit in love with you?”

Her eyebrows knitted together as she stared at him, her jaw open just a tad, and then shook her head. “No… No, he isn’t. We’ve been friends since high school, so we’re close. That’s all.” 

“Right.” He snorted, sliding off the chair and sauntering toward her. “Whatever you say.”

She tilted her head back as he approached, and he placed a cool hand on her forehead suddenly, his eyes scrutinizing her in a way that made her feel a little awkward. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I’ve been drugged,” she replied groggily, and he grinned a little. “Did you… Did you sleep on the couch last night?”

“Well, I didn’t want you dying in your sleep, or anything,” Loki told her as he felt under her chin, possibly feeling for swollen nodes or something. 

Don’t blush, she told herself – she was too sick to feel attracted to anything right now. 

“Aww,” she managed, batting her eyes at him. “Where would you live if I died?”

“I’d probably take your room, actually,” he mused, giving her chin a little squeeze before finally releasing her. “I can hear our neighbours having sex through my walls.”

“Awkward!” She laughed, wincing a little as her head raged at her for all the loudness. “They’re just two passionate people living the dream.”

“Yes, well,” he said, seemingly flustered. “They could do it a little more quietly.” 

“Hey, don’t tell me,” Max mused as she wrapped the duvet around her a little more snugly. “Tell them.”

“One day, I suspect,” he muttered, shaking his head a little. “Now, would you like something to eat? Something to drink?”

Nothing seemed even the slightest bit appealing right now, but she knew she would have to start eating something in order to get whatever was in her system out. She shimmied down on the couch, her head tucked halfway under the comforter, and then glanced up at him, batting her eyelashes. 

“Eggs?” she suggested, “And maybe just a glass of water for now.”

“Right,” she heard him say as he moved toward the kitchen. “I can do eggs.”

Her eyes threatened to close for a moment, and she blinked a few times; just because she was warm and comfortable didn’t mean she could go to sleep without eating anything. 

“Wait,” she said suddenly, sitting up a little and peering around the couch. She spotted him retrieving a glass from a cupboard. “Are you actually cooking for me?”

“I know, the sky is falling,” Loki mused as he returned shortly with a glass. “I assure you the world isn’t ending, but seeing as you have been drugged by some idiot, I think the only decent thing to do would be to spoil you.”

“Yum,” she murmured as she accepted her water, chugging down half of it before setting it on the coffee table. The fridge opened noisily back in the kitchen, and she heard Loki sigh. Oh, right. 

“We don’t have any food,” he told her, and she nodded into the couch. “I think we planned to go today, if I’m remembering correctly.”

“You are,” she said quietly. “It’s fine. Maybe I’ll just sleep and go out later when I feel better.”

“Well, I need something to eat,” he emphasized, slamming the fridge door. “I’ll go pick us something up.”

“Okay,” Max sighed, unwilling to form any coherent argument about why that wasn’t really necessary. If he wanted something to eat and so happened to pick her up something too, that would be fantastic. 

She heard him moving around the house for about ten minutes, migrating between his room and the bathroom. The apartment was small enough to hear pretty much everything, which had its pros and cons when you lived with another person. It was great to hear when someone came home, but it was a huge pain to listen to someone else’s music or phone conversation. 

“I’ll return shortly,” Loki told her, and she grinned beneath her duvet at his use of formal language, despite the fact it was just the two of them alone in the apartment. She suddenly felt a bony finger poke her sharply through the comforter. “Did you hear me?”

“Yes, yes, I heard you,” she snapped, swatting his hand away. “Wait, before you go!” She heard him stop, and she sat up a little. “Can I have more water?”

He shot her a bit of an annoyed look, but it lessened when she pouted at him from the depths of her duvet. He snatched the glass out of her hand and filled it back up, delivering it with a smile before stalking out of the apartment. Once she was completely alone, she reached out for the remote weakly and turned the TV on for something to get her mind off the pain in her body. 

Why would someone drug girls at a party? Especially a party where everyone pretty much knew each other, and there weren’t twenty years old scattered about drinking illegally. It was supposed to be a quick little shindig where she could introduce Loki to everyone, maybe grab a drink or two, and then be home at a reasonable hour. That definitely wasn’t how the night panned out, but she now knew for the future to be far more careful with her drinks, even in a place where she thought she was safe. 

Flipping through the channels, she finally landed on a rerun of Cake Boss, and when she realized there was nothing else on for adults on a Saturday morning at ten, this was going to be the best she could get. So, she chucked the remote down on the coffee table, wrapped herself up in her duvet, and attempted to block out the nausea that was beginning to build in the pit of her stomach.

* * *

Loki couldn’t believe how often they needed to go out and buy food. He had never shopped for groceries in his life, as the servants back home used to prepare that for him. As a god, he could go for longer without needing sustenance, and yet here it seemed that almost every week humans must restock their ice boxes with all sorts of fresh foods in order to survive. It only made it worse that he and Max were equally terrible at cooking and remembering that they needed food, and he predicted he was going to be spending a lot of the bank’s money on food someone else prepared for him. 

Shockingly, he wasn’t especially upset to fetch Max something to eat that morning. After he had tucked her into the couch the night before, she hadn’t so much as rolled over or forced him to do anything extra for her in her sickened state. He spent the majority of the night researching Stark Industries, along with all the information he could find on Steve Rogers. However, the mind was willing, but the flesh was weak and human, so he was forced to retire to get a little bit of sleep sometime around four that morning. Six hours later, he heard Max slam the bathroom door, and he realized it was time to face yet another day of being exceptionally ordinary. Thankfully, Max did not regurgitate anything onto him, and he did not have to deal with her mess in the bathroom. 

For someone who had been drugged the night before, she handled herself rather well; she was coherent, functional, and still loaded with her usual sass that kept him on his toes. It was pretty clear that she felt terrible physically, so it made perfect sense for him to dote on her a little while she recovered. After all, she had fetched him a meal while he recovered from that atrocious drinking game they had previously played, so now he was out of her debt with the favour returned. 

His march to the downtown area took about ten minutes, as he was now used to a few short-cuts and throughways between neighbourhoods. He was blinded by the sun for the entire walk there, and the wind was chilly enough to make him regret wearing a shirt with short sleeves. However, he had few other ones that would not have been wearable currently, having only purchased thick sweaters and thin shirts for the extremes of this climate; it might take him a little while to get his wardrobe sorted. 

However, as he stood inside the little sandwich deli, ordering an egg wrap for Max and a BLT – whatever that was – for himself, he noticed a very quick, abrupt chance in the weather. The skies clouded over, the wind picked up, and he predicted the arrival of a storm. He frowned as he stood in the window while waiting for his sandwiches to be toasted. No rain fell, and yet the sky was immediately dark, clouds full and heavy moving across the landscape. An older man and a young boy sat at a table nearby, clearly enjoying their own breakfast. Suddenly, the boy leapt out of his chair, pressing his hands to the glass. 

“Duncan, what are you—”

“Did you see the lightning?” the boy cried, tapping on the glass as Loki eyed him distastefully. “I bet the thunder’s coming soon.”

“Sit back down,” the older man scolded. “Don’t press your hands against the glass.”

Loki squinted at the sky once more, and then rolled his eyes as two prominent bolts of lightning ripped through the dark clouds. Well, wonder who that might be? 

He scoffed irritably, and then picked up his sandwiches from the counter. The attendant handed him a bag, and then told him to get home before the rain started; the rain was the farthest thing from his mind at this very moment. It certainly wasn’t a concern. He departed from the shop quickly, but instead of hurrying to the shelter of his shared apartment, Loki took a stroll to the east in the direction of the trails where he occasionally jogged. If that bumbling false brother of his was going to show up anywhere, it certainly wasn’t going to be in the town itself. 

No, Thor was, supposedly, no longer a man who wanted flash and extravagance. He glanced up at the sky just as another bolt of lightning cracked across it, and he decided that some things might never change. It took him about fifteen minutes to reach the start of the thick forest, and he stood at the edge of the trail, a stern expression on his face. The mass of lightning seemed to resonate over this side of town, and he knew that if Thor was searching him out, it wouldn’t take long for the Asgardian prince to find him. So, he remained rooted to the start of the dirt trail, hands clasped behind his back, eyes solemn and vengeful as he glared out at the dark forest. 

He wasn’t kept waiting for long. Shortly after his arrival, a figure emerged from the woods: wide, tall, a telling cape swishing with each step. 

“Brother,” Thor called, his voice venom to Loki’s ears. He said nothing in return, keeping his features expressionless as the man approached. They stood before one another, the small smile falling from Thor’s lips, and Loki quirked an eyebrow. 

“Have you come to gloat?” Loki asked stiffly, “Surely the All-father knows everything that has happened to me since he banished me to this pitiful place.”

“I would never gloat,” the man boomed, shaking his head as though Loki were some child who couldn’t quite understand everything. “I know the perils of living without one’s power… I came to see how you were faring, perhaps give some advice—”

“I neither need nor want any advice from you,” Loki spat, his eyes narrowing dangerously. “And do not pretend for a moment that you came to Midgard to see how I am faring. We both know you came to see your woman… Jane, was it?”

Thor’s smile had completely disappeared now, and he knew that he had touched a nerve by bringing up the man’s beloved. Really, what did he have to worry about? Loki hadn’t the slightest idea where this Jane woman might be, and even if he did, he had no means to do anything to her in his current state. 

“It seems you’ve found a woman of your own,” Thor commented, nodding down to the bag in Loki’s hand. “Does she have you fetching her breakfast already?”

His jaw clenched, but instead of engaging with him, Loki turned away and stalked back in the direction of the town, the first drops of rain hitting his head. 

“No, don’t walk away,” he heard Thor say as he marched after him. “I do want to help you. I want to see you redeemed, and I want you back in Asgard where you belong.”

“After everything I’ve done?” Loki sneered when he turned back to face him, a look of disgust on his face, “You can’t be serious.”

“The Gods do as they please with mortal realms, and you made a terrible decision, but it isn’t one I will hold against you for the rest of our lives,” Thor told him plainly. “You must be punished for your cruelty, and I think our father—”

“Your father.”

“—has done a fine job in charging you for your crime,” he finished, emphasizing the last word for some effect. “You made a foolish play for power and you lost. We all want you to learn and come home where you belong, where you’ve always belonged.”

Loki scoffed noisily and turned away once more. He felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder and he froze, hands balling into fists. 

“Please, let me do something to help you,” he heard Thor plead. “This punishment is terrible, and I know it firsthand. I have tips—”

“I have lived longer as a human now than you ever did,” Loki hissed over his shoulder. “Do not pretend you have more experience in this area. You were a human for a few weeks, and the entire time you displayed yourself as a god regardless of your lack of power. I cannot afford such luxuries.”

“Come now,” Thor laughed, giving his shoulder a squeeze. “It cannot be all that bad… I hear you’ve gone back to school with the woman you live with. Tell me, are you learning anything in class? Doing your assignments on time?”

There was a hint of a jab thrown into those comments, and Loki felt his eye twitch; Thor had pushed him a smidge too far. Without much thought, he whirled back and clocked the Asgardian right in the face, slamming his fist into Thor’s jaw with all the strength this pathetic body had to offer. Unfortunately, the contact hurt Loki more than it hurt Thor, and he stumbled away, clutching his battered hand to his chest, swearing violently at it. 

“Careful, brother,” Thor scolded, holding a hand to his face. “Don’t hurt yourself…”

“Don’t ever return to this place,” Loki spat, ignoring his bloodied knuckles for the time being. “I have no need for your sort of advice. In fact, if I were to never see your face again in this lifetime, it would be a much happier one, I can assure you.”

He reveled in the brief moment of hurt that flashed across the man’s face, but it was gone in the blink of an eye. 

“Loki,” Thor said softly, “I know you’re angry—”

“Angry doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel,” Loki seethed, glaring at the man with such hatred, such rage, that he thought he might attack him again. It would have been pointless, of course, and Loki instead turned and left the scene without another word. Thor also remained silent, and at the crack of another bolt of lightning, he was gone.

* * *

Max woke with a start when she heard the front door slam, and she groggily pushed herself up to see a soaking wet Loki storming across the room. 

“Hey,” she greeted, rubbing her eyes as she sat up completely. “Apparently it’s raining.”

“Yes.”

He stood behind the couch and fished her out a sandwich from within a white plastic bag, and as he handed it to her, she noticed his knuckles were split and bleeding. 

“Oh my god,” she cried, ignoring the sandwich and grasping his hand. “What happened? Did you get in a fight at the deli? Dude, this looks awful—”

“It’s nothing,” Loki told her, wrenching his hand away. 

She looked up at his face this time and she saw an anger in there that she had never seen since meeting him. He looked like he was ready to throttle someone; it was actually a little scary. 

“No,” she persisted, pushing herself off the couch and into a standing position despite her aching body. “No, it isn’t nothing… Tell me what happened!”

“Max,” he snapped, turning back to face her so sharply that she actually sat back down on the couch. “Don’t ask me. It’s none of your concern, and, quite frankly, none of your business.”

“Okay, okay,” she said quickly, holding up her hands to show her surrender. “Do you need any help?”

“No,” he all but shouted. Max flinched when he slammed his bedroom door shut, and she sat on the couch, completely dumbfounded by the enormous change in demeanor from the time he left to the time he returned home. 

What the hell had happened that got him so riled up? She actually felt a little shaken by the outburst, not used to men shouting and being this angry around her. Swallowing down the emotion that it brought out in her, she settled back into the couch and unwrapped the plastic outer layer of her sandwich, mind racing with possibilities that might have upset him this much.


	10. Pinkberry Tarts

Right, so that bit about Max having free time with only four classes and two jobs? Nope, nothing of the sort. 

Two weeks into September, and Max was already up to her eyeballs in work. The bookstore was chaos, as usual, at the start of the year, which meant her manager expected her to put in a few more hours than normal. The professor she assisted was super keen on giving everyone small assignments due each class, and by the end of the week, she had over sixty assignments to grade that were due for the following week. No more parties, no more socializing beyond Loki, her other teaching assistants and work friends, and definitely no more drinking; all of her spare time was stuck marking first year papers or writing up graduate work of her own for her classes. 

Naturally, she hadn’t marked any of Loki’s assignments, as it wouldn’t have been fair, but he always managed to persuade her to help him write up something just bullshitted enough on her laptop in order to get at least an eight out of ten. He could have done it himself, as he was more than capable of coming up with the answers for the discussion questions posed, but she usually gave him a little nod if he was right on the money for the answer key, or careful prodding to get him there. It didn’t necessarily bother her; he spent most of him time trying to impress his biology prof, and it only made sense that he wasn’t one for the arts or history when his mind was somewhere else. 

It wasn’t until about a week ago that her roommate really started to put some sort of effort into all of his courses. Yes, he went to class, but most of the time he ignored assignments and had already missed two quizzes in his media and technology lecture. Max could only nag him about it so much, and it wasn’t until she stopped that he seemed to get the message – or the memo from the counselor’s office pertaining all the class hours had had missed since the term started actually managed to scare some sense into him. 

Whatever it was, it had worked. They usually spent their nights doing homework with the TV on in the background, her on the couch, undergrad papers scattered everywhere, and he at the kitchen island, textbooks galore in front of him as he produced handwritten assignments, which was almost unheard of in this day and age. So far, no one had given him his assignment back and told him to type it, and the only time he actually typed notes was for her lesson and that was because she knew her professor wouldn’t accept anything handwritten. He did have especially pretty handwriting, mind you, which she loved to point out whenever she hovered over his shoulder to spy on what he was doing: very neat… for a boy. 

So, despite the fact that Loki hadn’t been much more social over the course of the month, Max stopped caring. Well, no, she cared, but she couldn’t go out there and make friends for him. There seemed to be a gaggle of eighteen year olds who liked sitting near him in her class, and most of the time he looked annoyed with their presence. However, he hadn’t gone out to socialize with new friends, nor did he have a cell phone or computer with which to connect to other people on social networks. So, essentially, she was his world: she and his bio professor. 

Loki kept trying to speak with his professor after class, only to be rebuffed or beaten to the line by his classmates, and she nodded sympathetically as he ranted while they cooked dinners. It was difficult to get a professor on their own during lecture hours, and when she suggested he look up the man’s office hours, the idea seemed a little baffling to him. Max then learned that Loki hadn’t even tried to contact the man outside their teaching environment, and she helped him find Ludwick’s office hours and location after dinner that night. She promised it would be a better way to get some one-on-one time with him, and Loki copied down the information and stuck it up on the fridge at her suggestion. It was Friday night, so he would have to wait until the following Monday in order to see the man again, or the following Tuesday to go to his office hours in the morning. 

The suggestion seemed much appreciated, and it put him in a better mood to the point where he offered to wash the dishes, which he never did. Normally, they stuffed everything into the dishwasher like normal people, but the machine was on the fritz, and as they waited for Irma to replace it, they had to wash everything by hand. Shockingly, Loki preferred to dry, and he never really did it well; the amount of times she had harassed him for putting partially wet dishes back in the cupboards was staggering. He seemed to dislike the idea of washing dishes in water that was dirty from the previous dish, and no matter how many times she called him a princess, she couldn’t get him to do the washing. However, since he was in such a good mood at the prospect of going to a professor’s office hours, he did it without her asking. 

“So you know what might be fun?” Max asked as he let the water out of the sink. His eyebrows shot up, indicating his acknowledgement of the question. “If we went to Pinkberry for dessert.”

“If we went where?” Loki demanded, eyebrows now knitting together now as he eyed her skeptically. She smirked. 

“Oh, you’re in for a good time tonight.”

Who hasn’t ever had frozen yogurt at Pinkberry? Fuck. It was like… an orgasm in your mouth. Two orgasms. 

“Max, I don’t really have time for trivial—”

“Look, we both know we’re going to lounge in front of the TV for an hour, and then do some work, and then go to bed,” Max insisted, wincing internally at how incredibly boring their lives were. She hopped up on the kitchen island, legs swinging in alternating circles. “So, let’s go get some frozen yogurt so we can at least pretend we did something this weekend… You get to put whatever you want in it, and it’s kind of awesome. So… Please?”

“Frozen… yogurt?” he repeated, recognition passing across his face; Max knew she had him. 

“Yeah, it’s like those little yogurt cups you slurp all the time, but frozen like ice cream,” she explained. Clearly they lacked frozen yogurt shops in England. “You can put in fruits or chocolate or… pretzels! You’ll be an addict after one bite, I promise.”

“Fine,” he sighed, throwing up his hands in defeat. “You always seem to promise me a good time, and we both end up suffering for it.”

“Oh, ye of little faith,” she tutted as she slid off the counter. “This won’t involve us getting wasted off our faces, or drugged… Really, it’ll be good sober fun with a delicious dessert. You’ll love it.”

He remained where he was, planted between the island and the nearby counters, and she was forced to squish between him and the counter to get around him. 

Damn it, face – be cool! 

She had a feeling he had picked up on some of the blushing and awkward stammering whenever she felt nervous around him; if he had, A) that was mortifying, and B) it had given him leeway to try to make her uncomfortable whenever he felt like it. Sliding between his body and the counter behind her? Yup, made her blush a little. She had her crush under control, and it continued to hover at the same spot as time went on, which was both good and bad: good because it meant she wasn’t even more of an awkward idiot because it wasn’t getting worse, and bad because it wasn’t going away, which meant the awkward in her head lingered. She really needed to shake it off, because even if he was aware of her crush, he hadn’t done anything to reciprocate the feelings, so it wasn’t worth pursuing. 

“So, I’m going to change out of sweats, and then we can go,” Max told him as she sauntered back toward her room, her face back to a normal colour once out of the kitchen. 

“Oh, but you look so classy like that,” she heard Loki drone. 

“Fuck you.”

She heard a snort from the living room in response. Max rolled her eyes. “Oh, and PS… Shorts are going to suck tonight, so I suggest you dress for fall.”

There was a long pause until she finally heard his bedroom door shut; seriously, he couldn’t wear shorts forever. The weather wasn’t awful, but it was cooler at night, and he was going to whine if he didn’t put something warmer on. Max decided she could keep her grey school sweater on because it didn’t smell like it needed a wash, and there were no signs of their pasta dinner on it. However, she shimmied out of her track pants and into a pair of straight cut jeans. She then switched to a thinner pair of socks so that she could wear her new fall boots, and then took her hair out of its slightly messy bun. 

She studied herself quickly in the reflection of her laptop screen, and decided this was good enough. No need to get dressed up for Pinkberry, after all – even if she was attending it with a guy she was into. 

Once she was back in the hall, she saw that Loki had migrated into the bathroom, and at that very moment the doorbell rang. Frowning, she glanced at her wristwatch as she approached; who would be dropping by at seven o’clock on a Friday night? She jogged a little when the doorbell rang again, and she pulled it open without even looking through the peephole. 

“Hi!”

Max’s eyes widened at her friend Marcy, and then the realization of what she had promised for the weekend came crashing down on her. Her smile was friendly enough, but Max felt the fear rise in her eyes as she stared at the large animal cage with a towel thrown over it in her arms. The short girl barely seemed to be able to see over it as she surged into the apartment. 

“Thanks so much for doing this!”

“Oh, yeah, no problem,” Max managed. 

For some stupid reason, she had volunteered to look after Marcy’s bird while she went home for the weekend to see her folks. Max hadn’t ever seen the creature before, but she imagined it to be quite small and cute, maybe it would bring some sort of Disney-esque fantasy into the apartment. She had completely forgotten about the promise she made earlier in the week, and wasn’t really in the mood anymore to look after someone’s pet. 

“So,” Marcy started, flicking a red curl out of her face as she dragged the towel off. Max tried to hold back her look of horror as she eyed a massive green and blue parrot inside the cage, feathers fluffed; it screeched noisily all of a sudden, and she flinched. “He’ll need to be fed twice a day, and you’ll need to clean his cage once too.”

“Can’t wait,” she forced out, wishing Marcy’s normal contagious enthusiasm would catch. “When are you back?”

“Sunday night,” she explained, “but the drive always takes a lot out of me… Do you mind if I pick him up on Monday?”

“Nope,” Max replied. “No, that’s fine. We’ll… We’ll take good care of him.”

“Her,” Marcy corrected somewhat snootily. As if that made a difference. Max held up her hands. 

“Sorry, her,” she remarked. “She’s in good hands.”

“Sorry I can’t stay to chat,” Marcy insisted as she reached through the bars to poke at the parrot. It hobbled down its little perch out of her reach, preferring to groom itself instead. “I’ve got to get going if I want to make it home by midnight.”

“No, that’s fine,” Max told her as she walked her to the door. “Have fun… Say hi to everyone for me.”

“Will do! Thanks again!”

Max kept the smile on her lips for as long as the door was open, and then felt it fall as soon as she turned back to the bird. She wasn’t really all that fond of animals; dogs were about the only thing she could tolerate, and she was instantly repelled by anything smaller than a cat. Anything with wings didn’t really sit all that well in her books either, but Marcy had been so distraught about leaving her bird with a stranger that Max felt she ought to step in – stupid, stupid Max. 

Well, at least this thing was in a cage, even if it did seem too small for the size bird that was in it. She wrinkled her nose as she took a few steps closer, and the creature seemed to eye her just as apprehensively from where it sat. She sat. Whatever. Birds don’t need a gender. 

She pursed her lips as she stared at it, and then a devilish idea came to mind. As quietly as she could, she lifted the cage and held it in front of her, and then darted down the hallway to the bathroom. She paused in front of the bathroom, which was currently still occupied, and then knocked. 

“What?”

“Can we hurry this along?” Max inquired. “I want to get there before it gets busy.”

“Who was at the door?”

“Hurry up,” she snapped, ignoring his question. 

She grinned when she heard Loki grumble something irritably inside, and moments later he wrenched the door open noisily enough to frighten the parrot. The creature squawked, flapping its large wings and shrieking at him. In turn, Loki actually jumped back into the bathroom, eyes wide only for a moment, and then glared at her. 

“Do you seriously want to start a war of tricks on me?” he demanded as she lowered the cage, a triumphant grin on her lips. “I can assure you that I’m much better at it than you ever will be… Also… what is… this?”

“This is my friend Marcy’s bird,” Max explained, still rather pleased with herself. “For some stupid reason I said I’d look after her for the weekend.”

“Oh, wonderful,” Loki mused, wrinkling his nose as he moved around her and the cage, his back to the wall. “I assume its staying in your room?”

“Fuck that,” Max snorted. “We’ll leave it on the island… and… deal with it later.” 

“Agreed,” Loki said with a nod, still eyeing the bird warily. It only then occurred to her that she should have asked him whether he was allergic to feathers, or if he’d be okay with having an extra roommate for the weekend, but it was pretty clear those thoughts hadn’t even crossed his mind yet. 

After depositing the bird on the kitchen island – and covering it with a towel under Loki’s advisement – they grabbed their keys, wallets, and shoes, and then started the walk downtown. However, it seemed a little windier than normal, and she squinted, less than thrilled to walk the twenty minute march in a breeze that might pick her up. 

“Well, guess it’s back inside for us—”

“Nope, I have a car,” Max snapped, grabbing hold of his sweater and dragging him toward the parking lot. 

She didn’t ever really drive her car unless absolutely necessary; gas was expensive, parking on campus was expensive, and she felt fat driving downtown when it was a short walk even in the worst of weather. However, tonight was a night worthy of a car ride. It was a fairly boring car: midsized dark blue sedan with dark grey seats and a trunk that liked to stick. It was her brother’s first car, and it made its way down to her once he moved on to bigger and better things. 

They clambered into the two front seats, and Max quickly ignited the engine, pleased that the car was a little warmer than the outside air. It was just nippy enough to make her wish she had thrown a light jacket over her sweater, and she was about to ask Loki if he felt the same when she noticed him studying the dashboard a little too intensely. 

“Don’t have cars in England?” she droned, arching an eyebrow at him as she backed out of the parking space. 

“You’re really in top form tonight,” Loki praised as he rolled his eyes, buckling in at her insistence and settling back into the worn seat. “No, I was curious to see how it started…”

“I know this is a longshot, but do you have your license?” she asked, despite knowing the answer already. 

“No.”

Shocking. 

“Well, I can teach you how to drive if you ever want to go for the test,” she offered, glaring as a car slowed down and turned without first giving her the courtesy of a signal. “I mean, it’s pretty easy once you get the hang of it.”

He was silent for a moment, and then nodded. “You know, I think I’d like that. It can’t be that difficult.”

“Yeah, if I can do it, you can do it,” Max chuckled as she spotted the glowing sign that signalled their impending arrival in heaven. “There’s Pinkberry!”

“What an abhorred name,” Loki mused, wrinkling his nose at the small restaurant as they pulled into the parking lot next to it. 

“It’ll grow on you,” she insisted, ripping her keys from the ignition and turning to face him. “Try to contain just how delicious the yogurt is… They can spot first timers a mile away.” 

“I’ll try to withhold my glee,” he sneered. A wry smile formed on his lips when she cocked her head to the side, and she couldn’t help but grin back; that damn smile was so infectious. 

Arms wrapped around themselves, they braved the wind through the busy parking lot and Max dragged open the clear door, gesturing inside happily. Loki seemed mildly put off with all the white furniture with pink accents, but once she introduced him to the concept of picking his own yogurt flavour with whatever topping his heart desired, he seemed to warm to the place. Ten minutes later, and they were both standing at the cash register, dessert in hand, and Loki was already digging into it. 

“I think this is the most delicious form of yogurt I’ve had thus far,” he commented, his mouth still a little full. 

“Well, you did get almost every topping,” she mused, judging him only just a little for mixing kiwi and pretzels on one yogurt, “but didn’t I tell you that you’d love it?”

“All right, all right,” he growled. “This seems to be the one thing you’ve been correct about thus far.”

“Whatever,” she laughed, handing over a ten dollar bill to cover her creation. 

For the most part, Max was just happy that Loki seemed happy. After his outburst a few weeks ago, she wondered if he might take some sort of downward spiral, or if he had run into trouble somewhere in town. He seemed to bounce back pretty quickly, even apologizing to her the same night for shouting. He still didn’t seem ready to talk about what had happened, and she wasn’t going to push him. 

Once she had her glorious concoction paid for, she lingered by the register to wait for Loki. She dove in pretty quickly, wallowing in the strawberry-vanilla blend that she had perfected; it was pretty simple, yes, but delicious. 

“I’m sorry, but your card has been declined.”

Max glanced back at Loki, and he simply stared at the teenager behind the register, a frown on his lips. “What?”

“Is there money on your card?” the girl asked, blonde eyebrows shooting up. 

“Here, I’ve got it,” Max offered, preferring to spare Loki a scene. She gave the girl the remainder of her change from her own purchase, and Loki followed her toward a table in a bit of a stupor. 

“Why did that happen?” he demanded as they settled into a white plastic booth. 

“Sometimes it’s because there is a problem with the bank,” Max told him with a shrug, “but… you do have money on it, right?”

“Well, I suspect the bank will have added more,” he mused, scooping a spoonful of frozen yogurt in his mouth. “This is… exquisite.”

“Wait, why would the bank add more?” Max asked curiously, “Are you on a plan that does that?”

“I was bound to have spent what they gave me in August by now,” Loki continued as he picked out a chocolate-coated pretzel. “They’ll just add more, won’t they?”

She wasn’t sure whether she ought to laugh or weep. 

“Loki…” she started, placing her hand on his so that he would take this seriously. “The bank doesn’t just add money to your credit card. You have to pay them back for the loan they gave you… which is the money on that card. Otherwise you get interest and you owe more… Please, please tell me you’ve been putting money back on the card.”

Please. 

He pursed his lips, and then continued to eat his frozen yogurt in silence. Max sighed noisily, and then ran her hands through her hair. “Dude, they must have told you this when you got the card!”

“I have another bank account,” he argued, “but I don’t… recall which bank it was with. I have money, but it’s somewhere else.”

“So you got the credit card to tide you over?” Max asked, her frozen yogurt almost completely forgotten, “Do you have enough for next month’s rent? Irma usually collects on the first.”

“Well, apparently I don’t.”

“Loki,” she sighed, shaking her head. “You… You need to be more responsible with your money.”

He continued to eat, his eyebrows furrowed. Max decided he didn’t need someone to lecture him – he needed a friend. So, she threw her shoulders back, and nodded. “We’ll figure something out… We’ll try to find the rest of your money, and maybe you could get a job to pay back the bank. It’ll be okay.”

His green eyes darted up to hers, and he smirked. “You have remarkable optimism.”

“Well, one of us should,” Max muttered, returning to her frozen yogurt, hoping that it hadn’t melted too much during the conversation. 

Still delicious. 

“How’s all those toppings working out for you?” Max asked, grinning a little as he picked through selectively. “Not regretting the kiwi, are we?”

“No, no, this is just right,” he insisted, his previous hostility dropped. 

Max readjusted her legs under the table, and then hastily brought them back when she brushed against his. “Sorry.”

He smirked a little, and then shrugged as he chewed. However, before she could spit out some other slightly nervous comment after rubbing up against his leg, they were interrupted by a fairly bubbling girl popping into their booth. 

“I knew that was you,” Erica beamed, laughing just enough to make her chest bounce in her v-neck sweater. “How are you? I haven’t seen you since Ben’s!”

“Erica, hey,” Max greeted. She really wasn’t sure why the woman thought they were close enough friends for her to sidle into her booth and squish up next to her. However, when she saw the look that Erica was giving Loki, it was pretty obvious why she had come over. 

“I’m Erica,” she greeted, extending her hand for Loki to shake. He glanced at Max quickly, and then forced a smile. “Max and I are such good friends, but she still hasn’t introduced me to you. Loki, wasn’t it?”

“What a good memory,” Max muttered, her eyes narrowing when she saw Loki’s eyes drift down toward Erica’s chest for just a moment. 

“Yes, nice to meet you,” Loki replied smoothly. “Always wonderful to meet Max’s friends.”

She smirked at the sarcasm, but Erica seemed to miss it completely. She threw her chocolate brown hair over her shoulder. “Well, my friends and I spotted you two coming in, but it took me a second to recognize Max with her hair brushed.”

Wow. Max choked on a strawberry, coughing a little as she glared at the woman, who continued to hold eye contact with Loki. 

“We’re having a little get-together at my place tomorrow,” Erica purred, leaning forward and resting her elbows on the table to highlight a little cleavage. “I’d love to get to know more about you… Maybe you and Max can swing by? I’m in love with the British culture… maybe you could give me a little lesson.”

“About what exactly?” Loki inquired, eyebrows rising as the girl blushed. Max rolled her eyes.

“Why don’t we discuss it then?” Erica suggested. She nudged Max once more. “See you tomorrow? It’s the same place as always.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Max replied with a smile.

“Nice to have finally met you,” Erica insisted, seemingly demure as she flitted off from the table. 

That had to have been the most overt display of sexual attraction she had ever seen in her life. Were they in high school still?

“We’re not going to that,” she muttered softly, and she heard Loki snort in response. 

“Does it look like I want to go to that?” he asked, shaking his head. “Honestly, I’m surprised she didn’t…”

Max looked up at him, and then chuckled, “Didn’t what?”

“Never mind.”

“Oh my god,” she laughed. “You were about to make a sex joke!”

“No, no, I wasn’t.”

“You were!” she argued, thrilled that he was finally losing some of the uptightness that seemed to come with being a Brit. “Say it!”

“No, it’s fine.” He took another spoonful of yogurt, and then made a face, retrieving something from his mouth. “What is _that_?”

Max leaned closer, wrinkling her nose a little, “Looks like pineapple.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“Well, you live and learn.”

“Right, let’s get out of here,” he said finally. “I’ll finish in the car… All this white is going to make my eyes bleed.”

Max grinned and quickly finished off the remainder of her small frozen yogurt. They passed Erica and her table of girlfriends on the way out, and she waved farewell with her pinky when Max glanced back in her direction. 

The wind was just as horrible when they stepped back outside, and Max made a beeline for the car. 

“Careful it doesn’t take your yogurt,” she laughed. A glance back over her shoulder showed her that she was alone, and Max frowned. Loki was still standing by the road, his back to her. Clearing her throat, she hurried back across the parking lot and nudged into him with her full body, breaking his attention sharply enough to make him look down. 

“What’s up?” she asked, following where his line of sight had been before and landing on a dark SUV with tinted windows parked across the street. “You know them?”

He looked back at the large car, and then shook his head. “No… Let’s go, Max.”

“Fine by me,” she said, and then squealed a little when he steered her by the small of her back toward the car. “Okay, no need to run!”


	11. The Bold and the Feathered

There were actually a lot of perks to working at the campus bookstore, even if it was a little hectic during the year. Ever since she started, she got a discount on all of her textbooks, which by the end of her school career would save her hundreds of dollars. Max adored all the people – well, most of them – who worked with her, even the new ones who were stuck trying to figure their shit out on the sales floor. Her inner nerd adored being surrounded by books all day, even if they were business or anatomy textbooks, and last year she had been bumped to a key holder position, which meant she made two dollars more than minimum wage. 

Not great, but at least she wasn’t flipping burgers for a pittance. 

She genuinely liked the bookstore, even if her manager was a bit of an uptight cow sometimes; the pay wasn’t great, but working as a graduate student paid enough to keep it all in balance. The salary she earned from there no longer paid her rent, but rather covered wants and necessities, and her paycheque from the college itself funded her rent and school fees. There were downsides to it, obviously. People expected her to know every single thing about every course offered at the college when they came by with their book lists, and they certainly didn’t care that she was already helping someone – they were the most important person in the world at that moment. Being on her feet for hours on end sucked, but if she was put behind a register she had the chance to sit, and the shifts were short enough to keep her happy. 

Since she had worked there for such a long time, and she was one of the oldest workers on staff, she had more responsibility than the rest of the sales associates. She helped with inventory, stock arrivals, merchandise placement, and even conducted a few interviews when her boss was sick during the hiring process last spring. Max felt comfortable there; it was her home away from home away from home. Therefore, when it came to asking her manager, Melissa, if Loki could get a job despite the fact they weren’t hiring, she felt completely at ease doing it. 

“He’s British?” Melissa asked from behind her computer, arching a brown eyebrow at her before clacking away at something on the keyboard, “Can he work here?”

“He’s on a student visa,” Max assumed. “So… That means only certain hours, right?”

They were seated in her small office behind the cash registers. It was nearly ten-thirty on a Saturday night, the same Saturday night that Erica had ordered she and Loki attend her party so that he could educate her on being a Brit. 

Vomit. In and around her mouth… vomit. 

Neither had been interested in going, and when Max left for work at about five that afternoon, Loki was napping after a jog on the trails. The weather had been lousy all day, but he seemed to jump on the opportunity to go jogging in the rain. Hey, who was she to judge? He’d done weirder shit than that since he moved in, and Max let him sleep when she left. After all, he had no phone for Erica to contact him, and she was fairly sure the woman had never been over to Max’s place for anything. Therefore, he ought to be there when she got back, and not in the clutches of Erica. 

A little dramatic? Maybe, but she couldn’t help it. There was no way she was going to bring Loki to some party where a girl who was way prettier than her could hit on him all night. Nope – not happening. 

Her shift hadn’t been anything too stressful. The bookstore was only open until nine on Saturday nights, and they maybe had a grand total of six people come strolling through. It was only herself and two other girls working, plus Melissa, and they could start their closing routine early in order to leave sooner. A lot of it involved counting down cash floats, general cleaning of the store, and returning all merchandise to their proper locations. The other two sales associates blitzed out of there sometime around ten, and Max remained behind to help Melissa with inventory for a half an hour. Technically, her shift ended at ten-fifteen, but after she moved up a position in the retail hierarchy, she found her start and stop times were more like guidelines: definitely not set in stone. 

“Does he have any experience pulling stock?” Melissa droned as she squinted at her ancient monitor, wrinkling her nose at something. “Does he have any experience at all? An undergrad who is twenty-six? What’s he doing with his life?”

“It’s not really my place to judge that,” Max replied, frowning a little at the woman. “But he has worked before, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work stock… He’s not running it. We both know Patrick would just tell him where to put things and haul stuff off the truck. He’s a really smooth talker… You could even have him on the floor in a pinch.” 

“All right, all right, stop trying to sell him to me,” the older woman remarked dismissively. She glanced up from her computer and grinned, “He can come in on Tuesday night to give stock a try, but he’s only getting minimum wage, and I won’t hear anything else about it.”

“Thank you,” Max gushed, a smile stretching wide across her face. “If he fucks up, you can give me shit… but I think he’s going to be a good asset to have on hand. We never have enough guys.”

“You’ve made your sale, Max,” Melissa chuckled. “Go home. It’s a Saturday night… Don’t you have somewhere to be?”

“Yeah, with all my course work and a cup of coffee,” she sighed as she slid off the small bookcase she usually sat on and waved farewell. 

That was actually a lot easier than she expected it to be. Even though she had endured a few part-time jobs since she was fifteen, Max hadn’t ever gotten someone else a job because she had influence with the manager. It actually felt kind of good to know she had a little bit of pull around here. 

After grabbing her bag and throwing a raincoat over her college sweatshirt, she slipped into her bright green rubber boots in the locker room and darted out the backdoor. It was still pouring once she got outside, and with her hood stuck firmly over her head, she made a mad dash for the back parking lot. On a day like today, it was perfectly acceptable to drive her car to work; besides, parking was free on the weekend, so she might as well take advantage of it. 

However, as she strolled across the parking lot, squinting through the rain, she spotted what appeared to be the same dark SUV Loki had been eyeing the previous night lurking around the handicap parking space near her sedan. It was noticeable enough, and almost no one in this town actually tinted their windows that dark, so it had to be the same one she had seen before. It put Loki in a bit of a quiet mood once they got home – not upset or angry, but simply quiet, and she wondered if there was any relation between the pair. 

Well, she wasn’t going to have some creep follow her or her roommate around, hiding behind dark windows and a big shiny car. So, even though it probably wasn’t one of the smartest decisions of her life, she threw her purse in the car, stuffed a bottle of airplane-sized hairspray in her jacket pocket, and slammed the car door noisily. From there, she threw her shoulders back and stalked across the parking lot, marching right of to the driver’s side of the SUV and tapping on the window. It was so tinted that she couldn’t even see if there was anyone inside, but she waited and hoped for the best anyway. 

A moment or so later, the dark window rolled down, and the nearby light revealed two dark-haired men, one staring at her with his eyebrows up, and the other in the passenger’s seat stopping mid-bite of a sugary donut, eyes wide as he stared at her. Max stared blankly back at both of them for a moment; the one in the driver’s seat had dark hair, dark eyes, and a bit of facial hair – he looked oddly familiar, but she couldn’t place him – and the other man was clean-shaven, a mat of curly hair on his head. 

There were empty cups and crumpled bags of fast food scattered between them. 

“Hi,” the driver said briskly. She pursed her lips. 

“Hi,” Max managed after a second or so. “Are you following me?”

“No,” the man replied, shaking his head a little. He then started to roll up the window, which forced Max to stand on her toes in order to continue seeing him. 

“So I won’t find you parked outside my apartment, or my job, or the yogurt shop that I like anymore?” she asked. The window paused, and he rolled it down a little. 

“No.”

“Cool,” she managed, adrenaline suddenly pounding throughout her body. “Bye then.”

“Bye.”

Max continued to stare at the black window as it rolled up completely, and then awkwardly turned away to go back to her car. Did she actually just do that? Her actions went against every rule she had, ever code that a college girl should follow. What if there had been two psychopaths in the car waiting to make a drug deal and they shot her? Mind you, this was Masonville, so that seemed a little farfetched. However, she still retrieved her phone and snapped a picture of their front bumper as she was leaving, hoping that she would be able to see the numbers of the plate through the rain. If she saw them again, it was straight to the police.

* * *

Tony watched the dark sedan roll out of the parking lot, and then rolled his eyes as Banner mumbled something incoherently at him. 

“I really love it when you talk with your mouth full.”

His friend chewed for a few seconds, and then swallowed what appeared to be half of a donut in one go. 

“I can’t believe she actually came up to the car,” Banner chuckled, reaching for a napkin and hastily wiping his fingers clean. “I mean, stupid, but… she’s got a pair down there.”

“No, I think just a whole lot of stupid,” he said, noting which way the car turned as it sped down the small street. 

“Did you get it?”

Tony reached out and pressed a small button on his elaborate dashboard, “Jarvis?”

“Yes, sir,” the A.I. responded through the speakers. “We have voice recognition software running now, as well as a digital copy of her face. Shall I send them through to S.H.I.E.L.D?”

“No, we’re going to play this one close to the chest for now,” Tony insisted, Banner nodding in his peripherals. “As long as the Big Guy keeps his cool, we’ll stick to surveillance.”

“Big Guy?” Bruce chuckled, “I wasn’t aware I was being watched too.”

Tony shot him a look and then grinned, “Why do you think I keep you with me all the time?”

“My genius intellect.”

“Glad you’re enjoying second best,” the billionaire laughed as he turned his key in the ignition. “Let’s get back to civilization, shall we?”

Bruce had already retrieved his custom laptop, modified with Tony’s specifications, and then sighed, “The Captain’s back in New York…”

“Yeah, and Thor’s in Arizona,” Tony remarked. 

“You already read my emails, didn’t you?”

“I may have peeked while you were taking your time at that gas station bathroom-“

“There was a line!”

“I was thinking we could bring that gang in for a reunion,” Tony suggested as they veered away from the academic buildings behind him. “Maybe see if Thor can explain why baby brother is back on Earth and at college…”

“Might want to ask that after he’s got some shawarma in him...”

* * *

Still a little rattled from her sudden spout of boldness, Max ended up sitting in her car for a couple of minutes when she arrived back at her apartment complex. What was she thinking? Ugh. Thankfully, there were no headlights in her mirror on the way home, and so far no black SUV in sight. So, when she was sure that she was alone, she hurried out of her car and sprinted back to her front door, wrinkling her nose as rain splattered across her face. She shoved her key in the door and quickly tumbled inside, quick to lock the door behind her. 

After shedding her raincoat and kicking off her boots and slightly wet socks, she ran her hand through her hair to shake out a bit of the dampness. Loki, as usual, was watching the eleven o’clock news, feet up on the coffee table; Max scoffed noisily. 

“Boring,” she moaned as she sauntered toward the couch. “Let’s switch to something less depressing.”

“It just started,” Loki argued, holding the remote hostage on his lap as she plunked down next to him. “Besides, you can watch people compete to be a chef but you can’t stand keeping up to date on national news? Your priorities are a little weak, Max.”

“Hey,” she snapped, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “Don’t judge Hell’s Kitchen…” She trailed off, picking at her nails, “Ramsay would make me piss myself.”

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” Max sighed, waving it off as she tucked her legs beneath her. “Oh! So, good news from work!”

“Hmm?”

He continued to stare at the screen, clearly more interested in what was happening on the news than what she had to say. 

“I talked with my manager,” she explained, poking his arm with her pinky in order to get his attention, “at work.”

“Yes, I assumed she’d be at work,” Loki remarked. “Carry on.”

“Well, she said you could work stock Tuesday night,” she continued, bouncing a little, and then frowning when he didn’t share her excitement. “Why don’t you look happy? You need to work…”

“I know, I know,” Loki sighed, running his hands through his loose black hair. “I don’t quite think I’m ready to start this soon. I have a lot of work to do elsewhere.”

“Yeah, so does everyone,” Max reasoned with a nod, “but we all also have to pay rent and tuition and everything else. I’ve got you covered this month, but what are you going to do next month? Go into debt because you can’t be bothered to multitask right now?”

“All right, all right, tone it down a level,” Loki groaned, rolling his eyes a little when he finally looked away from the TV, and she assumed it was only because the commercials were on. “I’ll obviously do it, but you can’t expect me to be ecstatic.”

“No, but you could be a little more grateful,” she argued. “I did just find you a job and you didn’t even have to do anything…” 

He turned toward her fully, and then grabbed her hand, holding it between both of his, and his eyes stared directly into hers. 

“I owe you for so many things,” Loki admitted. “Thank you.”

The colour flushed to her face, just as she anticipated, and he grinned a little. Cocky asshole probably knew exactly what he was doing that that shit. She smirked in return, and then shrugged her shoulders. 

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to pay me back one day,” she said coolly, and then tugged her hand back. Awkward. “Uhm, so I have a shift Tuesday night and we’ll go together.”

“My, my,” Loki chuckled. “Living together, working together, classes together-“

“Class together,” she corrected, leaning her head against the back of the couch. “What? Getting sick of me already?”

“Quite the contrary, actually,” he mused, his gaze returning to the TV once it signalled the news’ return. “I’m shockingly accepting of you.”

She frowned, “Thanks?”

“You’re welcome,” he laughed as he folded his arms across his chest. 

Max rolled her eyes a little; he actually was a little arrogant sometimes, which was a rare unattractive quality in him. Good – she needed to notice those types of things more often if she wanted her little crush to go away. Arrogant, occasionally randomly emotional, and had yet to offer to clean the bathroom – none of those things ought to be in the guy she’s crushing on.

“Did you feed the bird today?” Loki inquired, and she quickly blinked after realizing she had been staring at him again. Hopefully he hadn’t noticed with his eyes glued to the segment about a canine parade in the next town over. 

“Oh, shit, no,” Max grumbled, pushing herself off the couch and strolling back toward the island. 

The bird cage had been in the same spot that she dumped it the night before, and the parrot had been relentless that morning about waking them up to be fed. Loki may not have put up much of a fight when she first brought that thing into the house, but the death glare he shot her when he came out of his room that morning said it all; the sooner it was out of here, the better. 

The creature made a great deal of noise when she retrieved her small bag of birdseed, and she gingerly opened the cage door to pour it in the holder. However, two seconds after the bird spotted freedom, she went for it, shooting out beside Max’s face. She screamed and ducked out of the way, birdseed flying everywhere as her hands quickly covered her head for protection. Loki gave a similar shout, and when she glanced back, she saw that the parrot had landed on top of the television. 

“Quick, grab her!”

“You grab her!” Loki snapped, peering out from the side of the couch, eyes narrowed. “You let her out!”

“You’re closer!”

“Not a strong enough argument, I’m afraid—”

Max shrieked again as the large bird took off and circled around the kitchen, finally taking up a spot on the top of the fridge, feathers completely fluffed. 

“Okay, okay,” Max reasoned as she stood up a little, still crouched down enough to hit the deck in case their feathered friend took flight again. “Let’s try to get her back in together.”

“Max,” Loki moaned, “I’m watching the news…”

“Yeah, and it’ll be on tomorrow morning and tomorrow night too,” she snapped. “Can you just… help me, please?”

She heard him sigh irritably, and then finally turn the television off – apparently all attention now needed to go toward this bird. 

“Right, why don’t you grab a towel,” he suggested, “and we’ll see if we can… guide it back into its cage.”

“Fuck,” she groaned. “Why did I agree to watching this thing?”

“You can explain that to me later,” Loki told her as he marched round the island and cautiously snatched up the two dish towels that were hanging in front of the oven. “Here.”

She caught the one he tossed at her, and they both approached the fridge from opposite sides of the kitchen. He gestured for her to wait, and she watched as he stood on the tips of his toes. However, before either of them could do anything, the parrot shrieked and fluttered off the fridge, wings and feathers everywhere as Max cried and ducked down.

Things with wings sucked. They just… They sucked. 

“Max, you really need to stop being so noisy,” Loki ordered as he too ducked down to avoid being hit, “because you’re upsetting the bird, and you’re throwing me off!”

“Sorry, Steve Irwin,” Max snapped, throwing her towel down dramatically and taking a seat on the floor, “didn’t mean to spoil your concentration!”

He scoffed noisily, and Max flinched when the parrot landed on the island nearby. It was probably shitting everywhere. She glared at it, but quickly shrunk away against the cupboard behind her when it flapped its wings once more. Loki crouched down a little, like a feline stalking its prey, and Max watched him take a step forward in his socked feet, only to catch himself on her discarded towel and plummet down to the ground. Max giggled a little, and he managed to catch himself on the counter just in time, but the parrot was long gone into the bowels of their apartment, hopefully not shitting on her bed. 

“Maybe,” he sighed, sliding down to sit opposite of her, “it can just be a free-range bird until your friend comes to get it?”

“Not in my room,” Max snorted. 

Her eyes traveled along his long legs, bent at the knee, arms resting at his side. Ugh, stop it, Max. Much to her surprise, he seemed to be doing the same thing, and suddenly leaned down to examine her foot, which was currently slightly brushing his side. 

“Is there a ring on your toe?”

“Oh, yeah,” she said quickly, leaning forward to touch the small toe ring. “I usually wear them in the summer… I keep forgetting to take it off.”

Lie. Her toes and feet got swollen from summer shoes and summer heat, and currently her little baby toe was too fat to get the ring off. 

“You’re a strange creature, did you know?”

She hugged her knees, nibbling at her lower lip as she glanced up at him. The fridge hummed softly beside them, but otherwise it felt like all her other senses had dulled. Ugh. The crush might actually have gotten worse within the last minute or so. 

“I do what I can,” Max finally managed, shrugging her shoulders in an attempt to appear nonchalant. He smiled mischievously, and then wrapped a hand around her ankle. She stilled, her eyes cast down to the spot of contact.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed noisily from the other side of the island, and Max almost jumped up to grab it. She answered without even bothering to check her caller I.D., and then immediately regretted it. 

“Why aren’t you here?” Erica demanded through the hum of background music. “It’s after eleven!”

“Oh, I just got home from work,” she insisted a little breathlessly. Out of her peripherals, she spotted Loki rise and disappear down the hallway out of sight, and for a moment she was relieved. “Look, the weather’s really shitty, and I’m tired, and Loki’s… not really up for a party tonight.”

“Bullshit,” she slurred. “I live two blocks away from school… Get over here and have a great time—”

“What?” Max asked, rolling her eyes, “Oh, you’re cutting out. What? Sorry, can’t hear you! My phone battery’s dying, Erica… Why don’t you—”

And she hung up. Nope, not dealing with that tonight. Moments later, Loki returned with that fucking parrot resting on his hand. He ran a finger down its back, and it appeared Max wasn’t the only female being in this apartment that enjoyed his attentions. 

Max gripped her cell phone tightly as she watched him set the bird back in the cage, but instead of saying anything, she decided it was best to call it a night; go to bed before it gets any worse.

“I’m going to shower quickly,” she said. “Do you need the bathroom?”

She heard the TV come back to life behind her, and she assumed that he was fine.


	12. Stock Shock Syndrome

She gasped as his lips pressed slow, sensuous kisses along the small curve of her ankle, hands grasping at the bright purple bed sheets beneath her. Her eyes widened, breathing quickened, nipples hardened, and back arched under his affections. Max whimpered when he bit at the sensitive flesh on the underside of her calf, teeth grazing and tongue teasing spots that shouldn’t be erotic, but for now every inch of her burned. She hissed his name, and for the first time it felt exotic on her tongue; a low chuckle was his only response. Her eyes sought out his, and the plain brown met striking green moments later, sparking a heat between her thighs that she had never felt before. Her hand slid down her slim frame, hoping to find some sort of relief on her own, but he slapped it away sharply. 

Loki continued up her body, nibbling here and sucking there. Her breathing was shaky, uneven, and Max wouldn’t have it any other way. They were in a dark room, nothing on the walls or floors, and yet they were splayed across her bed in such a raunchy fashion that they were bound to make the smutty books on her bookshelf jealous. For some reason, she was completely bare atop those bright purple sheets, yet he was fully clothed in black. She sighed happily as his fingers walked slowly up her inner thighs, but it was only at that moment that she noticed he had six digits on each hand. 

Had he always had six fingers?

That was forgotten as the delicious possibilities of what he might be able to do with that extra finger ran through her mid, blurring her vision for a moment. Max twisted the sheets firmly when he used his tongue on her skin, so achingly close to the place that would give her optimal pleasure, the greatest satisfaction. She cried his name once more, this time as a plea, begging for the blissful torment to come to an end. He crawled up her body in response, his lithe figure covering hers. The weight felt so real, so firm, and she hastily went to the button on his pants, popping it open without a care in the world. He could have her; he could have every last piece of her over and over again. 

Her hands slipped beneath the fabric, aching to bring him out so that she might be able to toy with him for a little while, make his heat as unbearable as hers. However, rather than a hard member pressing into her hands, she felt scales: hard scales, like the shell of a turtle. Max glanced down out of curiosity, her breathing still ragged, and she spied a tail similar to that of a fish – perhaps a mermaid – nestled between her legs. 

“Your tail is so big,” she purred, oozing sex in a way she never had before. Loki grinned in return. 

“I’m glad you like it.”

His teeth went to her neck as she stroked the scales below, his pants seeming to have vanished in the movement. She groaned as he sucked on a spot just below her ear, the heat emanating from her core so ghastly, so forceful that she simply couldn’t bare it any longer. She wanted to scream, thrash about, behave irrationally. 

At that moment, the door to her room opened; daylight streamed across the floor as her curatorial sciences professor strolled in. He moved straight to her desk, which was now in a room where there was once only a bed, and she watched as he settled down in front of her laptop. 

“The Yankees won today,” he told her, adjusting himself so his round gut could fit properly before her desk. Max nodded. 

“I know.”

Loki smiled at her, and this time she noticed each tooth was pointed at the end, carnivorous and raw. Some were even red. She grinned anyway, eager for him to finish what he had started. The forecast for today will be a balmy fifty degrees, unseasonable warm for this time of year. We have our traffic report on the way, followed by the latest in local sports… here on 94.2, easy listening in the morning.

Max felt her eyes fly open, realizing that her radio alarm had pervaded the depth of her dreams. She groaned noisily and rolled over, slamming her hand down on the device to turn it off. 

“What the fuck, subconscious?” she demanded irritably, running her hands over her eyes before sighing loudly. It had all been a dream. It started off so wonderfully, enough to get her a little aroused currently, but it had finished so abruptly in such a fucked up way that Max didn’t even want to think about it. If she ignored it for long enough, it was bound to weaken and fade, and by tonight she wouldn’t even remember the sheer fuckery that just happened in her head. 

She quickly sat up and glanced down at her bed sheets: dark grey, not bright purple. Where did her mind come up with this stuff? Some people say they don’t dream at all, but that seems crazy and lucky at the same time; Max usually had unnecessarily vivid dreams that were never a good time, even if they started off fun. Did they mean anything? Were they predictions of her future? Unlikely. 

Sighing once more, she pushed herself out of bed, threw a sweater on over her t-shirt, and then dragged her feet all the way to the bathroom. Even if it was after nine, which was later than she was normally up, Max felt tired today. Maybe all that dreaming had interfered with the good sleep she was normally exposed to. It was a Tuesday morning, which meant she had three of her four classes today, and it was a long slog of lectures ahead. Tonight would be Loki’s first shift working in the stock room, and she definitely wasn’t in the mood for her sales shift that night. 

The bird, thank god, had disappeared yesterday morning. Loki seemed to have some sort of magic working on it, because it hadn’t made a peep since he secured it back in its cage Saturday night. Sunday had been a work day for both of them, followed too quickly by Monday classes and a night shift for her, which meant she was in bed late with a tired brain. So far, there hadn’t been any black SUVs lurking nearby, but she hadn’t really left the apartment much aside from her visits to campus for class and work. She still had the blurry picture of the license plate on her phone, and she wasn’t afraid to use it. 

All in all, Max felt a little worn out that morning. She couldn’t be bothered to shower, as her hair looked fine in the bun she had put it in last night, so she did a quick wash of her face before strolling back out toward the kitchen. As usual, Loki was glued to the television, two empty yoghurt cups on the coffee table and a bowl of her cereal in his hands. 

“Morning,” he greeted as she strolled by, and Max gave a weak grunt in return. It would take her a couple of seconds in order to not picture him with scales and red teeth. Gross. 

She grabbed a banana from their shared fruit basket, and then began to peel it as she leaned on the kitchen island. 

“I don’t understand these,” Loki insisted. Her eyes flickered up to the screen, and they were met with scantily clad Victoria Secret models dancing about through flowing curtains. “Are they selling whores?”

She snorted, choking a little on her mushy banana piece, and then quickly swallowed it down. “No!”

“Then what is the purpose of this message?” he asked, glancing over the couch at her, eyebrows up. 

“Well, they’re selling underwear,” Max explained. “A little early in the morning for it, mind you, but… they look like that to show the product.”

Loki pursed his lips, and then settled back into the couch, “I suppose I can see the logic.”

“I’m sure they’ll be glad their advertising scheme has paid off,” she muttered. 

With the banana finished, she began rummaging around the cupboards for a bowl, and then poured herself some cereal. That mooch needed to stop stealing all her food; he got all the marshmallow bits in her Lucky Charms, and that was totally uncalled for. She caught a flash of paper on the fridge as she set the milk back inside, and quickly read the office hours Loki had scribbled down for his hero. 

“So,” she started as she eased herself onto one of the stools by the island, “are you skipping class to go see your idol?”

“My idol?” Loki repeated. “Ludwick?”

“Yeah,” she managed with a mouth full of soggy sugar bits. 

“Yes, I’ll be seeing him sometime today,” he replied. “During his hours... He will be there, won’t he?”

“I dunno,” Max replied. “Sometimes they’re there, and sometimes you get there and there’s a note on the door telling you that they’re out. It’s kind of hit and miss with some profs. If he isn’t there, just email him for an appointment.”

He remained quiet as the news resumed, and Max rolled her eyes. His obsession with local and global events was actually kind of annoying, particularly when she wanted to watch TV late at night. The only way it seemed she would win that argument was if she wrestled the remote off of him, but even then that seemed like a fairly hopeless battle. 

Once she finished up with breakfast, she sauntered back to her room and quickly dressed. She had about a half an hour to get ready and get to her first class of the day – curatorial sciences (awkward) – and she knew that if she dawdled in front of the TV with Loki she was never going to get out of there. So, she threw on a pair of loose jeans, a lime green sweater to match, along with socks and a necklace to give the outfit a little pizazz. After, she hastily brushed her teeth and applied a little bit of mascara, and then grabbed her backpack and made for the door. 

“See you after class,” she told Loki as she pulled on her worn fall books and a light jacket. “Don’t be disappointed if he isn’t the guy you thought he’d be.”

“What?”

“Ludwick,” she clarified. “I mean, I’m sure you’ve built him up in your head… but just… take your expectations down a peg. He works at St. Judith’s after all…” 

“That does not sound like school spirit, Max,” Loki told her, pointing an accusatory finger at her from his spot on the couch. She flipped him off in return, which made him chuckle, and she darted out the door before he could see what that chuckle, the same chuckle from her dream, did to her face.

* * *

Loki always found himself endlessly amused by Max’s growing affections for him. She might have thought she got away with it that morning, but he saw her face flush just as she darted out the door; what he would have given to know exactly what she was thinking. 

He started to notice it about two weeks ago, and he wasn’t about to let her get away with it. It was all just a bit of fun; Loki knew how to exploit a weakness when he saw one, and the fact that she blushed such a wonderful shade of crimson when he played it just right was endlessly satisfying. He wouldn’t necessarily say that he was flattered by the attentions, but he was certainly more tolerant of them because they came from Max. He could stand Max; she was one of the few humans he had met thus far who he could spend any real time with and not want to pummel into the ground. She was witty in her own way, clearly intelligent based on her level of academia, and was pretty enough for such an ordinary creature. Obviously he had seen women more physically attractive, but she was growing on him. 

Max and her almost blatant feelings for him were the least of his concerns. He continued to wake up each morning feeling weak and mortal; it enraged him to no end to be so plain, to lack any real ability to fight off an enemy. Didn’t Odin realize what would happen should any of his real enemies find him here? What would they do with him when they realized he had no real power, no chance of defending himself? The horrors that awaited him at the end of the universe, at the far reaches of space and time, were too terrible to imagine in his powerless state. 

He had seen that the weaker of his enemies had sniffed him out recently; Loki knew that if he behaved himself, Fury and his band of worthless agents would keep to themselves. However, he also knew that Stark and the rest of that team, the Avengers, would surely take notice of his arrival; the mark he left on this planet when he fell into it was still being studied, and that was sure to catch the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and Iron men alike. He would keep his temper in check, pretend as though he didn’t know they were spying on him from behind their tinted windows and armoured vehicles. 

What else could he do? This frame was too weak to physically attack them, and there were no weapons in this pathetic town to speak of. Loki needed to remain on course with his original plan – Ludwick would give him a way into space, and from there he would find a safe realm in which he could acquire real magic once again. Today was to be the first day of his plan, the first breath of its life. 

He had been doing wonderful work in Ludwick’s classes; he was always punctual, his assignments were stellar, and he was one of the few who actually spoke in class in order to facilitate some sort of discussion. If he put the same effort into all of the lessons he had been slotted into, he would have quickly become the best student in this wretched school. However, he thought it only gracious that he gave the rest of the young adults had a chance to shine; when it came to Ludwick’s class, no one would be given that opportunity. 

The man’s office hours ranged from eleven in the morning until one in the afternoon, which coincided with his media and technology course. That two-hour madness was the most pointless class of all of them; he spent the entire time sketching nonsense on his paper while his professor rambled on about writing styles and social networking. None of it had any appeal to him; some students seemed really keen on it, while the rest clicked around on their laptops and watched videos. Today’s agenda would consist of taking up a quiz the professor gave them last time, in which Loki circled random letters in a multiple-choice format and hoped for the best. 

If he didn’t need to get out of this place so terribly, if he wasn’t in dire need of escaping this planet, Loki might have actually tried to learn something. He wasn’t opposed to schooling in principle, but he might have tried harder if the consequences of this life weren’t so calamitous. However, if he were to actually take up a legitimate study here on Earth, he would have gotten himself settled into one of the top schools in a top country – preferably in a place where women didn’t live in track pants that had various degrees of tightness. 

Once he finished up with his breakfast, which consisted of a bowl of Max’s sugary mess which was only good for about a minute after the milk was poured, Loki quickly showered and dressed. He didn’t need any of his books to charm a professor, and opted to leave his bag behind. Instead, he dressed neatly in a pair of fitted trousers and a dark green button-up shirt, preferring to look a little more professional than the rest of the miscreants that wandered around campus. 

Dressed and ready to go, Loki was quick to slip into a pair of shoes and walk briskly to campus. He knew the way by now, having walked the path almost every single bloody day for a month. Ludwick’s office was located in the same building as his classroom, and once he was inside Loki realized he actually could have walked here with his eyes shut. He navigated through people with ease; it certainly did not take long for him to figure out how to maneuver through speedy walkers and those who moved at the pace of an ancient being, lost in their private world of music and other nonsense. 

Ludwick’s office was on the third floor of the building, and it was the only one on campus of its height. He hadn’t been up there yet, clearly, so it took him a little while to gather his bearings and find his way through the mixture of offices and pristine white laboratories. Number three-fifty-five. His eyes scanned the doors as he marched along, finally spotting the desired office. There wasn’t a sign on the door as Max predicted, and Loki grinned when he spotted the dull older man seated at a desk. 

Ludwick reminded him greatly of Eric Selvig: average height, not overweight but still a little round in the middle, balding only in one spot at the back of his head, and clear blue eyes that were beginning to look a little cloudy. He always spoke clearly in class, but he was also aware that Ludwick had a tendency to go off on slightly irrelevant topics, so he could fathom why some people found the lessons dull. He even found the lectures to be a little tedious, but he was incredibly practiced in feigning interest in things that were pointless.

He knocked soundly on the doorframe, smiling when Ludwick looked up.

“Hello,” the older man said softly, greying eyebrows shooting up when he looked Loki over twice. “Can I do something for you?”

“Professor Ludwick,” Loki greeted as he stepped into the small square room, glancing briefly. “How are you this morning?”

The man blinked, and then leaned back in his chair. “I’m fine. You’re in my introductory class to biology, aren’t you?”

“Yes, yes I am,” he remarked with a nod, pleased that he had managed to make a memorable impression in only a few short weeks. “Do you have a few minutes to speak with me?”

For a moment he seemed as though the professor might turn him away. He glanced at his computer screen, then down to a notebook, and he sighed. 

“Yes, I have some time,” Ludwick said finally. He gestured down to the small chair in front of his desk, and Loki quickly took a seat, careful to appear the eager student in his body language: leaning forward, arms uncrossed, expression keen. 

“Well, first just let me tell you what an honour it is to have the privilege to be taught by you,” Loki began graciously. “I came here just for you.”

“To study biology?” Ludwick asked, eyebrows shooting up. “There are better places around here that are strictly science focused—”

“Actually,” Loki clarified, knitting his fingers together as though he were infinitely relaxed. “I’m more interested in your research with space and beyond, particularly where NASA is concerned.”

“Oh really?” he asked, finally looking a little more alert in the conversation. “You know, few people are even aware that I have such a position…”

“That is unfortunate,” Loki crooned, shaking his head at the sheer ignorance of others. “You were in the paper recently for your work.”

“Ah, yes,” Ludwick remarked as he suddenly appeared uncomfortable. “It was nothing… merely a consultation. I prefer to remain here to work on my other research.”

“The paper said you were analyzing findings,” Loki insisted. There was this niggling feeling in his head that this wasn’t going the way he wanted it to go. “I think that’s quite impressive.”

“If you don’t say so yourself,” the older man commented without a hint of a smile. “Now, what can I do for you?”

Loki ground his back teeth together, but masked his irritation with the man’s briskness. 

“I’d like to know more about your work with the space program,” he began. “Where you started, where you went, what sorts of research you do, where I might be able to go should I wish to pursue a career—”

“All of that can be found on my website,” the professor remarked. “If you need help with class guidance, the counselors here would be more than able to help you choose courses that would fit that line of work.”

Loki blinked back his frustration, and then leaned forward just a tad more, “I simply thought—”

“Look, I take it you’re an undergrad, right?” Ludwick started, sighing noisily. Loki gave a stiff nod. “Right, so if you’re in my intro course, you’ve got a long time to figure this stuff out. It’s the first month of school… Enjoy that and then come back. I usually prefer to chat with my students near the end of the year when they have a better idea of what’s going on.”

Loki cocked his head to the side, staring at the man for a moment as an uncomfortable silence settled over the two. The professor nearly leapt for his desk phone when it buzzed, and he nodded toward the door after he answered it. 

“I’m sorry I can’t be more help,” Ludwick insisted. “Let’s talk again some other time.”

“Oh, we most certainly will,” Loki told him firmly, the mirth and eagerness gone from his eyes, “quite soon, Professor. Good day.”

It took everything in him not to slam the office door noisily behind him. How could he be so quickly rebuffed by a man who professed to be an educator? Whatever the case may be, Loki wouldn’t be so easily deterred. No, he would try again to engage the older human; perhaps if he could produce genuine appreciation for the man, Odin might believe the appreciation would stem to all humans. Hmm. A possibility. 

He still had enough time to make it to his second class if he tried hard enough, but Loki was in no mood to be surrounded by ignorant morons today. Besides, he knew he had to work at Max’s little bookstore tonight in order to produce some sort of funds for himself, so he needed time to prepare for that. Irritated, but not defeated, Loki stalked back through the campus and returned home just as the clouds started to thicken above him. Perhaps they were in for another storm. 

What an infuriating thought.

* * *

“What do you mean he isn’t working stock?”

Loki tried to mimic Max’s confusion as she glared at the woman, Melissa, who was supposed to be her superior at the shop, but in all honesty, he couldn’t care less. At this point, he’d be more than happy to go home having done nothing. 

He had spent the better half of the afternoon grumbling about Ludwick’s inability to be useful to any degree. Max returned close to five, and by then he had already followed the directions on the back of a box to produce a meal called Kraft Dinner. The woman appeared a little drained after her full day of classes, and because of it hardly seemed embarrassed when they sat next to each other on the couch to eat the meal from the same pot. He’d suggested it so they could keep their dishes clean, as the machine that automatically cleaned them was still broken, and he had sort of wanted to get a kick out of watching her squirm. However, something seemed slightly off with her, probably due to fatigue, and she ate most of her meal in silence in front of the television box. 

From there, they piled into the car for the start of their shift at half passed six. The weather had taken a turn for the worse, and Loki could barely see through the streams of water that plummeted down from the sky. Luckily for him, there was no lightning to be seen, which hopefully meant his stepbrother was long gone from Masonville. Max, however, seemed less enthusiastic about the storm, and complained the entire way to campus about driving in terrible weather. She still kept up her offer to teach him how to pilot the car, and he figured it would be a useful skill to have. If he could manage different sorts of alien crafts, he was fairly sure he should be able to drive one of these slow vehicles. 

It was a mad dash to get into the building through a door Loki had never seen before, and Max gave him a code to punch in so that he could always have access. It felt quite secretive, quite elite, until he found himself in the locker room surrounded by smelly wet shoes and school bags. He quickly realized this job might be even less glamorous than Max had led him to believe. 

Once they had changed out of their wet clothes into something a little more presentable, Max led Loki through the back and into the bookstore, which he was currently only slightly familiar with having purchased very few textbooks. However, he was assured he wouldn’t need to know much, as his night would consist of unloading trucks and counting things – apparently. 

Well, apparently not. 

“Dirk quit this morning,” the manager explained tightly, her arms folded across her chest as she looked Loki up and down. “Look, Pat can handle stock, and I’m sure your… friend—”

“Loki,” he interjected with a charming smile. The woman’s cold front softened a little. 

“ _Loki_ ,” she continued, “will be able to work the floor for a night. We’re now short a salesperson and we could really use the extra manpower on a Tuesday. What do you think?”

“But he doesn’t know anything,” Max argued, her hands planted firmly on her hips. “I mean, it’s not hard, but—”

“I’m more than capable of following instructions,” Loki argued. “So long as they are clear… I would be more than happy to help where I’m needed.”

Melissa’s chest swelled with what he assumed was pride, and she shot his roommate a slightly smug look. Max arched an eyebrow at him, and then threw her hands up, “Fine, whatever. I’m going to go sign on to my till… I’ll be around to help.”

The pair watched her move toward the cash registers, and Loki found he actually had to crane his head down to meet Melissa’s eye level. 

“She seems like she’s in a mood.”

“It’s the weather,” Loki told her as he clasped his hands together behind his back. “Now, what is it you’d like me to do?”

“First we’ll get your nametag made.”

He followed the smaller woman toward the Information Desk near the back of the store, and Loki leaned against the counter as she clacked away at something behind the desk. He wasn’t sure why he had been so cheery, but perhaps a small part of him knew he really needed to make the extra money, and the chance of him getting a job somewhere else with this small amount of effort seemed a little unlikely. 

“Okay, here you go.”

Loki looked down at the small nametag she had handed him, and frowned when he read what was printed on it. 

Locky. 

_Locky_? Was she an idiot? 

He quickly realized it wasn’t worth the effort to correct her, as he planned to be speeding away from this town with his powers intact (or soon-to-be) within the next month or two; it was easier to just go with it. He pinned the tag to his shirt, wincing when he nearly stuck himself with the end of the needle, and then followed Melissa toward the aisles of books. 

“Now, Tuesdays mean we give higher discounts for our students, but I’m sure you know that.”

He paused, eyeing more students milling around than he had ever actually seen in here, “Right.”

“So we’re a little busier.”

“Right.”

She came to an abrupt stop and then gestured to the six aisles on either side of her, labeled from Anatomy down to Music and everything between. 

“You’re going to man these aisles,” she explained. “You don’t have to make sales or promote anything… You just need to keep your aisles neat and help people find things. Get used to the way things are stacked. There’s a broom in the storage cupboard by the locker room if you need to sweep.”

“Right.”

“Think you can handle all that?” the woman chuckled, suddenly standing a little too close for comfort. “You’re finished at nine, and then once your area is neat, you can leave.”

“Right.”

“My, you Brits have an extensive vocabulary,” she mused, patting his arm. “Give a shout if you need help.”

He watched her walk off in the direction of the cash registers, and then he hastily looked away when she glanced over his shoulders. Right. Look busy for the next… He glanced down at his new wristwatch, and then sighed: just under two hours to go. How was he supposed to pretend for that long?

He first strolled up and down all the book aisles. They were labeled according to discipline, and then broken down into divisions by class. Some departments had an entire aisle strictly dedicated to all their classes, and Loki was surprised that there were still books for sale. 

Student milled about, some pausing to study a textbook, others simply grabbing what they needed and hurrying off. He could do this. He could stand around at a store for three hours a few times a week in order to make some money. 

“Hi.”

Loki winced; he didn’t want to actually have to do anything here in order to make his money. However, it seemed that people wouldn’t even give him that much grace. He turned back to find a very petite blond woman, several years younger than Max to be certain. 

“I can’t find anything,” she laughed, flicking her hair out of her face and then producing a massive list for him. “I totally didn’t realize we had to read the books, and now we have exams coming up. Stupid, right?”

She laughed again, and Loki wrinkled his eyebrows as he read her mammoth list. 

“Locky?” she asked. “That’s a different name… Is it like… French or something?”

“No,” Loki remarked, shaking his head at her. “Uh… Why don’t we… start…”

She hadn’t actually written any of the names for the classes down – only the course numbers, and Loki had absolutely no idea where he was supposed to find any of these. 

“What program are you in?” he asked under the guise of making conversation. 

“Oh, just first year,” she replied, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she popped a loud bubble of something between her teeth. “So everything, you know?”

“Yes, well…” He cleared his throat, showing the list to her. “I don’t know all of these off by heart. You’ll need to tell me which classes they are actually for.”

She frowned at him. “Isn’t it your job to know?”

Loki felt his eye twitch. “No.”

“Oh, uhm,” she fumbled. “I kind of think it is—”

“Just tell me what the programs are and we’ll go from there,” Loki ordered tightly, shoving the list back in her hand. 

“Okay, so… English…”

Loki marched her over to the proper aisle, and began retrieving books from the shelf as she read out the titles. By the end of the English section, she clearly had nowhere else to put anything, and she shot him a slightly pathetic book over the pile. 

“Can you get me a cart?” she whined. Loki stared at her for a moment, and then turned away stiffly and marched back toward the section where he knew there were shopping carts. He grabbed a free one, and then shot Max an irritated look. However, she was busy dealing with a line of her own and didn’t acknowledge him in the slightest. He also noticed she had a massive smile on her face – clearly fake, but quite big all the same. Was he supposed to pretend to be happy?

As he walked back to the English section, he noticed that the four other shop employees were also remarkably friendly to just about everyone in their general vicinity. No. That wasn’t about to happen. When he found his little blonde customer, she dumped all of her books in the cart and then flicked her hair again. 

“Okay, now we go to business!”

Loki rolled his eyes as she flounced off out of the aisle, and then glanced down at the cart. Did she expect him to push it? He nudged it out of the aisle and soon found her in the Business section, but the aisle was too busy for him to bring the cart down. Instead, he walked through another group of people and went to work on getting all the books off the higher shelves for her. He followed her through to the Biology, Calculus, and Spanish sections, despite the fact Spanish wasn’t in his section. She seemed completely oblivious to the fact that she could have pushed her own damn cart, and when they were finished, she disappeared without so much as a thanks. 

Miserable quim. 

An hour followed in which Loki was tugged around to various aisles in his section by different individuals looking for something or another, and by the end of it he was ready to slam the next person’s head into one of the metal shelves. Students were insanely messy on top of that, and he was constantly bringing books back to the places where they belonged, picking them off the floor, and closing ones that had been left open during a bit of light reading. Honestly, didn’t people have the slightest respect for any sort of order?

The cleanliness seemed to be a common theme across the store, because whenever there was a quiet moment, he noticed the other employees cleaning or tidying something up. This might actually be more work than he anticipated. 

“Hey, Locky!”

He turned back to face the new arrival, savagely slamming a book down on a shelf, and then glared when he saw Max grinning at him. 

“Love the nametag,” she trilled as she approached him. “I’ll change it later tonight.”

“I didn’t have the heart to tell her…”

“But you had the heart to tell that last guy you helped to shove a book up his ass if he didn’t leave you alone?”

“I don’t recall those being my exact words,” Loki said, holding back a grin as she snorted. 

“Well, remember that you’re in customer service now,” she carried on. “You have to be nice to people.”

“Even stupid people?”

“Especially stupid people,” she giggled, leaning back against a shelf and folding her arms. “Look, Melissa wants you to grab a mop and mop up the front entrance… People are getting water everywhere, and if some idiot falls, we’re responsible.”

“That seems a little ridiculous.”

“Welcome to retail,” Max chuckled, grabbing the elbow of his dark shirt and tugging him along. “Come on, I’ll show you where the mop is.”

“Why can’t you do this?”

“Because I’m not new,” she told him with a look thrown over her shoulder. “For the next little while, anticipate doing everything gross until you aren’t new anymore.”

Loki ground his teeth together; he really ought to thank her for finding him this fantastic waste of time. However, he held his tongue as they wandered back in the direction of the locker room, and Max pushed a heavy door open and flicked on a light. 

“So,” she said, pointing down at a bucket with a long handle coming out of it, “there’s your mop. Front entrance… Make sure it’s dry.”

Loki sighed in sheer disbelief that he had been reduced to this. Was Max somehow involved in his actual punishment? Did she meet up with Odin regularly to tell him new ways she had found that would make Loki suffer without his powers?

However, just because he was without his godly gifts did not mean Loki did not have the upper-hand in their relationship. It only took a few hushed words to make her weak. 

He leaned down, his lips near to his ear, and then murmured, “You always know how to make my evenings stellar, Max.”

Her breathing hitched in her throat, and Loki grinned as she stepped away, running a hand through her hair. 

“Yup, well, I’m going back to my till now,” she said quickly. “Have fun mopping.”

He watched her scuttle off, and for a moment felt quite pleased with himself. However, he soon came back to reality when his eyes met the mop and bucket in the foul-smelling closet. Right. If the rest of the people who worked here could handle such a simple task, he was bound to be able to do it too. After all, he had lived for hundreds of years, aging very slowly physically, and had endured countless hardships and pain; he ought to be more than capable of mopping up a wet floor. 

With that attitude in mind, he grabbed that infernal bucket and mop, and then made his way to the front of the store. Just as Max had said, the front entrance was soaked. Someone had placed a sign up to indicate that the floor was wet, but otherwise it seemed no one else had done anything about it. He set the bucket down, and when he glanced over toward the cash registers he noticed that a few of the girls without customers were watching him. They quickly pretended to be doing something else when he sought out eye contact, and Loki rolled his eyes. He decided to keep his back to them, and commenced with the mopping. 

This wasn’t… terrible. It was easy to get done quickly, and once he had finished, Loki actually felt quite proud about how neat it looked. However, all his hard work was dashed only moments later when a herd of boys came barreling in. 

“Are you guys still open?” one asked frantically, and Loki nodded as he glared down at their sopping wet feet. “Awesome!”

They then disappeared into the depths of the store toward a section that housed all of the program’s study cheat sheets. His lip twitched irritably, and he set to work getting it dry for a second time, finishing only when the last of the customers filed out. Melissa appeared shortly after and told him to have a go at the back door as well – apparently the men doing stock pulls (whatever that might be) got water along the staff hallways too, and he soon found himself grumbling through almost twenty minutes of mopping. 

When he resurfaced, he was promptly told to straighten out his section, as it was a disaster. Loki almost snapped at the portly woman; how was he supposed to keep all those aisles clean when she had him mopping somewhere else? If he had his full abilities intact, he could be in two places at once, but this current state of weakness made it a little difficult. However, a warning look cast by Max as she strolled by with a box in her hands made him keep his mouth shut, and he spent another fifteen minutes putting everything back in its proper spot. Melissa then preceded to hand him a broom and ordered him to sweep the aisles down too. 

Time seemed to crawl by as he did his closing duties, but when he had finally finished, Max still had another twenty minutes to go before she would be even close to done. Irritated with the sight of just about everything in the store, Loki decided to wait for her in the locker room. He had no desire to chat with his new colleagues, nor did he like the way Melissa eyed him from the Information Desk at the back; it was easiest to hide out and wait for Max. 

By the time she resurfaced in the room, the majority of the staff had already filtered through. They had all cast him looks that ranged from slightly curious to anxious as they awkwardly gathered their things, and Loki tried not to pay them much attention. When Max appeared, he threw his hands up and rose to his feet. 

“Finally,” he droned as he pulled his jacket on. “Let’s get out of here, shall we?”

“So, you’re hired if you want to keep working,” Max told him as she kicked off her shoes and slid into her bright green rain boots. “Melissa liked you.”

“I noticed.”

“And she decided to pay you in cash today,” she continued, producing a small envelope for him. “Thirty-three dollars and eighty-four cents… Congratulations, you’re a minimum wage worker.”

He grabbed the envelope and looked inside, displeased with the pathetic amount. “That’s all?”

“I pushed you up to four hours instead of three, so it’s more than you should be getting,” Max insisted as she finished dressing. “You’ll do your paperwork next week when you officially start, but I think you’ll need to work quite a bit to get on top of your credit card stuff.”

“Are there any jobs out there that will pay more than this?” he demanded as he shoved the envelope in his pocket. 

“You could be an escort,” she laughed, and then quickly shook her head. “No, look… as a non-American with little work experience, this is as good as it gets. You’re just lucky our state has a higher minimum wage than most.”

“Yes, I’m so very lucky,” Loki ground out. “The luckiest person on this entire planet.”

“All right, Captain Dramatic,” she sighed, twisting her hair up into a bun and gesturing toward the door. “Want to get some frozen yogurt? You seem a little pissy.”

“As did you today.”

“Well, maybe we could both do with some,” she stated. A small grin tugged at the sides of her lips, a charming one that forced him to smile back suddenly, and they disappeared out into the rain together; his stomach rumbled happily at the thought of frozen yogurt once more.


	13. TubTub

“Max?”

“Hmm?”

“There’s a green line under my sentence again…”

“It means there’s something wrong with the grammar.”

“There isn’t.”

“Well… You tell that to Word then.”

There was a long pause, followed by a grumble too low for anyone to actually make sense of, but she was fairly sure it contained a great deal of cursing as Loki resumed clacking away at her keyboard. He was definitely the slowest typist she had ever encountered, and it normally took him the better part of two hours to get through an assignment that should take forty minutes at the most. However, she had noticed some slight improvements, and hadn’t commented on his lack of technological ability once. Instead, Max usually sat to the side to offer careful assistance whenever he seemed to get annoyed with something; computers were frustrating to people who had a good grasp on them, so she could empathize with his irritation if he seldom used one in the past. 

It was the second week of October, and Masonville had settled nicely into autumn. All of the leaves had changed colours, the air was crisp and cool in the mornings and at night, and no one dared venture out in a pair of shorts anymore. School and work were still as hectic as ever, but Max had found a steady rhythm that made it easier for her to cope. The shifts at the bookstore eased off now that the rush was over, and she could actually work twice a week without any issues from her manager. Loki, on the other hand, was there almost every night in order to pay back his credit card debt, which the bank had already contacted him about twice. At first, she wondered if he simply didn’t take it seriously, but when she realized he had no idea how the banking system even functioned, Max rolled up her sleeves to help him make budgets and schedules to balance his work and school life. 

Their social life remained fairly stagnant. Within the last two weeks, Loki had been working pretty much every night aside from his designated days off. The shifts were short, and he was usually home sometime shortly after nine-thirty. However, once he was home, they still spent most of their time sprawled out around the living room/kitchen area, books everywhere, television on in the background, and a computer on Max’s lap. They worked, studied, ate, and occasionally napped in that room, and it had become an extension of their bedrooms in quite a big way. It was also messy as fuck, but neither seemed to care enough to clean. 

She invited Ben and his roommates over once last week for a party, but that party consisted of pizza, beer, and grad course work. Loki actually joined them when he got home from work, and Ben was kind enough to look over a first draft of a history essay to give him some pointers. For some reason, it made her infinitely happy to see her new roommate getting along with her friends; he had been pleasant enough, and even contributed to the conversation whenever it was applicable to him. She was also forever grateful that her friends were as open and accepting as she believed she was, otherwise there was a slim chance that some pop culturally retarded twenty-six year old undergraduate would have been able to fit in otherwise. 

It helped that almost every single one of her friends were fairly serious, studious graduate students who genuinely wanted to do well in their final years of post-secondary school. If she had friends who were obsessive about partying and socializing… Well, it would have made life more interesting, but they wouldn’t have fit in with Loki, and Max definitely wouldn’t have been able to keep her marks up. So far, she had kept trucking along with her marks. In her undergraduate years, she did exceptionally well in her first year (easy-peasy) and her fourth year (could write multiple choice exams with her eyes closed), but struggled with the years in-between. Now that she was working at a graduate level, she found that her marks had actually been pretty constant over the past two years. She needed to keep that pace steady and finish strong, otherwise she would be shit-out-of-luck when it came to plunging into the job market. 

Currently, Max was on a break from studying and marking assignments. A rerun of Toddlers and Tiaras blared from the television screen, much to Loki’s discontentment, and Max used the hour to let her brain relax for a little while. No thinking was required to watch little children prance around in frilly dresses, so it was a good recess before she switched her thinker on again and dove right back into correcting assignments from last Monday. So far, they had all been pretty good, aside from a few that were clearly done an hour or so before class started. 

It was Saturday, Loki’s only full day off, which meant they were stuck with each other for the entire day. That definitely didn’t bother her; she found her crush started to fluctuate as of late, and today it was stronger than usual – hence why she was wearing make-up on the weekend. He just seemed to be a little more playful lately, a little more flirtatious, and she was starting to wonder if he might be developing a little bit of puppy love too. Max definitely wasn’t going to act on it, but it was hard to ignore when her crush was the first thing she saw in the morning and the last person she saw before she crawled into bed at night. For the sanity of their living relationship, she kept her flirting playful and safe, and vowed not to get totally piss drunk alone with him anytime in the near future. 

Her phone vibrated noisily on the coffee table, and Max launched forward, pushing papers and notes aside to find it beneath the mess. When she finally did, she scrolled through her messages to find the most recent one, and then sighed. Ben and his roommates really wanted to do a trip to a pumpkin farm sometime in the near future. They had been doing it almost every year since they were in high school and could awkwardly navigate her dad’s truck together, but had missed out on it last year due to terrible weather for most of October. Right now, it wasn’t necessarily something she really wanted to do, but she knew that once she was in the car and driving toward that farm, the one with hay bales and corn mazes and freshly baked pies… Well, nothing else would matter then. 

“Hey,” she said suddenly, propping herself up on her knees and leaning over the back of the couch to study Loki, “do you think you’ll be busy next Saturday?”

He glanced in her direction from his spot on the island, eyebrows up and suspicious, “Why?”

“Well, Ben and Garret and I normally go to this pumpkin patch to get pumpkins for Halloween,” she explained quickly, a grin on her lips in order to make it seem more exciting than it sounded. “It’s always such a fun day, and we carve the pumpkins that night… Do you think you’d want to come?”

“I… I’ve never actually seen a pumpkin before.”

“That’s okay,” Max laughed, twirling her phone between her fingers. “It’ll be something new for us to do… as long as the weather holds up. It’ll be a lot of fun!”

“I know this speech by now,” he mused as he returned his focus to the laptop. “I don’t really think you’re offering me much of a choice, are you?”

“I guess I shouldn’t have bothered to ask,” Max said absently as she fired a reply back to Ben. “You’re coming to the pumpkin patch next Saturday.”

“I’ll be counting down the minutes.”

Max rolled her eyes and then grabbed one of the smaller couch cushions, hurling it at him lightly enough to hit him, but not damage her laptop if she missed. 

“Your maturity never ceases to amaze me, Max,” Loki droned as he continued poking away at the keyboard. She stuck her tongue out at him, hoping his peripherals picked it up, and then plunked back down on the couch to return to her show. 

Her phone buzzed again noisily, making her flinch for a second time, and she quickly read over Ben’s reply. Ever since Loki had brought her friend’s potential feelings to Max’s attention, she began to notice little things that Ben did. He always held the door for her, offered to buy her food, hugged her at random times, and could get a little handsy when drunk – only when drunk, mind you. Before jumping to any sort of conclusion, Max decided to let those little things slide; it might have simply been the case of paying too much attention now and reading into things a little more than necessary. However, he had replied pretty fast with his text message, and included a follow-up question with a smiley face. 

Hmm. Ignore for now. 

She tossed her phone back onto the coffee table, and then wrapped herself around a pillow as she sunk into the couch. There was only fifteen glorious minutes left of her trashy reality TV show before she had to focus again, and she didn’t want to waste another moment of it. 

Suddenly, she heard the familiar tone of her Skype alert emanating from her laptop, and Max leapt to her feet. 

“I didn’t do anything,” Loki told her quickly, holding his hands away from the offending device. “What’s happening?”

“I’m getting a phone call,” she explained briskly, her heart racing when she saw her brother’s name flash across the screen. “It’s my brother… I just need to take this back for a half an hour.”

“Right.”

“Nothing will happen to your work, I promise!” she insisted as she scooped up the laptop and darted back to her room, kicking the door closed with her foot. Max flopped down on her bed, her laptop propped up on her legs, and she clicked on the blinking phone to answer the video call. 

“Maximillian!” her brother shouted into the microphone, making her snort. 

“Hey Nolan,” she greeted happily. “Happy birthday, fatty!”

He grinned the same grin she did, and Max quickly took stock of his physical appearance. Her brother had been in the military since he got out of high school, but it wasn’t until two years ago that he was actually sent overseas for duty. It was first in Afghanistan, followed shortly by Iraq, and he was currently on the last leg of his tour. If it all went according to plan, he would be home in the late spring, hopefully by the end of May. 

Max adored her big brother. He had been her best friend for as long as she could remember, and that wasn’t about to change in the foreseeable future. Two years her senior, Nolan had been her protector, advice-giver, and constant companion throughout her life. They never hit any sort of rough patch at puberty, which some siblings did, nor did they even seem to notice that they were opposite-sex siblings who shared just about every secret conceivable. She tailored her sense of humour toward his style. He taught her to drive. They always shopped for Christmas presents together – when he was around. They reigned supreme chicken fighters amongst their cousins, and they shared interests in books, TV shows, and music. 

The only thing that they differed on was their outer shapes; Max was a beanpole for most of her youth, not developing much in the way of curves until she was older, and Nolan was called Tub-Tub until his senior year of high school. The military turned a lot of his baby fat into muscle, though he was still a fairly large, stocky sort of guy that looked like he could knock out a few teeth with one punch. The military had also shaved off his horrible long hair, something he considered the epitome of style back in the day. 

They usually tried to chat online whenever he had an off day, and she was lucky if they got face time once or twice a month. Whenever she did have a chance to see him, she always liked to assess his physical appearance first; one time they chatted and he spent the entire time trying to hide a black eye that was fairly obvious, and that only made her stress about him more. People died over there. They just… died. Her parents weren’t really all that happy he was in the army to begin with, and their anxieties tended to trickle down to Max if she ever thought too hard about it. Most of the time, she had to pretend it was a job like anything else, and that he would be home in one piece when his tour was finished. 

“Couldn’t help but notice that there weren’t any presents waiting for me this morning,” Nolan told her, arms folded over his sweat-marked t-shirt as he cocked his head. “So… a giant fuck you to you too.”

“Oh, drama queen,” she purred, rolling her eyes at him and then reaching down beside her bed. She produced a small bag and held it up for him to see, “I have it, but I’m not spending another forty bucks to ship it to you. You can have it when you come home.”

“Fine,” he sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to deal with mom’s homemade sweater and cookies.”

Max shook her head, “She sent you a sweater to wear in the desert?”

“It gets cold in the winter, don’t hate,” he insisted. He then produced a dark blue sweater from his lap and slipped it on over his head. Max leaned a little closer to the screen, scrutinizing the symbol on the front, and then snorted when she saw it was a pot of honey. He puffed out his chest, nose up, “It’s because I’m her baby bear.”

“I hate you so much.”

He laughed as he ran his hands over his shaved buzz of hair, and then sighed, “Okay, so updates since we last talked.”

“Uhm…” she trailed off, thinking back to their last call at the beginning of September. “The new roommate is working out really well.”

“Holy shit!”

“I know, right?” she chuckled as she tucked a chunk of her hair behind her ear, “He’s… really behind on like… technology and things, but we get along and spend most of our time together.”

“Is he cute?”

Her cheeks flamed a little, which he hopefully couldn’t see through her terrible webcam, and then narrowed her eyes at him, “Shut up.”

“Oh, sounds like he is!” her brother snorted, leaning close and clicking around on his keyboard. “Give me his name… I’m going to creep his Facebook.”

“He doesn’t have Facebook.”

“Dad has Facebook.”

“I know… Have you accepted him yet?”

“I have six friends on Facebook,” he droned, shooting her a look. “Do you think I’m ever on there?”

“Well, considering you don’t have timeline yet, I’m going to say no.”

“Okay, get him on Facebook so I can check him out.”

She rolled her eyes again, “He’s just figured out Microsoft Word… I think Facebook might be a bit much.”

“Where did you find this guy? Under a rock?”

“Sometimes I wonder,” Max admitted with a shrug. “Otherwise nothing out of the ordinary for me… Mostly just work and being a TA… What about you?”

“Well,” Nolan started, “we blew up a pile of garbage at the back of the camp today.”

“Fun,” Max laughed. “Glad our tax dollars are hard at work.”

“And, you know, normal stuff too,” he continued, shooting her a bit of a look. “Last week I went to a school with a bunch of guys to help deliver a shipment of school supplies some charity from back home put together. It was a lot of fun, actually.”

“Good,” Max said. “That sounds… safe.”

“Yeah, it’s been pretty quiet lately,” Nolan informed her. “I mean, we got reports of some issues from our bases in the south, but I’m in the north… Nothing happens around me.”

She had faith in their relationship to hope that he would tell her the truth about any sort of violence that went on in the area. However, the news was enough to worry her whenever Iraq came up, so it might have actually been a blessing if he censored some of the stuff that happened over there. 

“So, you going home for Thanksgiving this year?” he asked as he popped some sort of a nut into his mouth, chewing noisily enough for her to wrinkle her nose. 

“I dunno, probably,” she remarked. “I think mom would be pissed if I missed it two years in a row.”

“She’d probably show up at your apartment with a turkey under her arm.”

“Oh my god, she totally would…”

They then fell into a comfortable conversation regarding Thanksgivings from their childhood, and his allotted half-hour of computer time flew by. Not every camp was the same, but Nolan’s superiors gave him a grand total of one half hour every single day to go on the computer. Sometimes the connection was strong enough for him to Skype with her, and sometimes she knew he fished around on the internet for a pair of boobs to look at, or checked his email. That definitely didn’t bother her; she’d have nothing to say if they spoke every single day. 

“I miss you,” she said suddenly, her eyes getting a little watery when she checked the time. “Stay in one piece, okay?”

“Shut up,” Nolan told her. He then smiled that comforting smile, the one he had always used when he was sure everything was going to be just fine, “Love you.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re okay too,” she sighed, brushing a small tear away. “Talk soon?”

“Sooner the better.”

She blew a kiss at him and said farewell a few more times, and he was the first one to close the connection between their laptops. 

She sat still for a little while after, simply staring at the screen, but then pushed her sadness aside. Life goes on, whether he’s here or there. Pursing her lips, Max opened Loki’s word document and took a quick scan of the answers, shaking her head at some of the odd sentence constructions. He hadn’t even saved the document yet… Shaking her head, she quickly saved it as a file in her documents, lest he lose it in some accident, and then reworded a few noticeably awkward sentences to save him a few marks. She didn’t correct the content of them, just the structure. He probably wouldn’t even notice the corrections. 

Sliding off her bed, she sauntered back out and placed the laptop on the island, poking at Loki’s head as she took a seat next to him on the couch.

“So, who won?” she asked, referring back to the end of Toddlers.

“Some little girl in a purple dress,” Loki replied. “I wasn’t really paying attention.”

“You totally were,” she chuckled, grabbing the remote from his hands and turning the TV off. “Go finish your assignment.” 

“So that was your brother?” he inquired, completely ignoring her hint to hurry up on her laptop. 

“Yeah,” Max replied, pushing herself down to the other end of the couch and then snatching a few papers off the pile on the coffee table. She also grabbed her red pen, ready to mark things up where necessary. “I told you he’s in Iraq, right?”

“Yes, but why?”

Her eyebrows rose at him, “He’s in the army.”

“Right, right,” he said quickly, “a soldier.”

She was fairly sure she had told him this once before, but perhaps with all the new stuff he was doing lately it had slipped his mind. 

“Do you miss him?”

Her eyes dipped down to the papers on her lap, and she nodded, fully aware that he was studying her intently from across the couch. 

“That guy is my best friend,” she said after a moment or so. “He’s… my soul mate, really. I mean, not in a weird romantic way.” Awkward. “But he’s like the other half of me. We grew up together, my car was his… I wish he’d just come home, you know?”

“I can imagine, yes.”

He stood up and returned to the kitchen island in silence, and Max shimmied down into the couch just enough to be a little too comfortable. Here’s to not falling asleep on someone’s assignment, huh? 

“What is his name?”

She glanced up when Loki spoke again, and then cleared her throat. “Nolan.”

“Interesting.”

“He’s named after my grandpa, actually,” she explained, underlining a student’s name and drawing a thick arrow to the other side of the page. Presentation mattered. 

“And who were you named after?”

She paused half-way through a comment, and then resisted the urge to tell him that it wasn’t any of his business. 

“My grandma.”

“Two women in your family are named Max?” Loki snorted. She heard the faint sound of his two fingers clacking away at the keyboard again. “That seems unfortunate.”

“Hey,” she chuckled weakly, shooting him a look over the couch. “My dad’s name is Max… It’s my middle name, actually.”

“Really?” he asked, finally looking away from the laptop screen and smirking a little. “So what’s your real name?”

“Nope, you’re not getting that,” Max laughed, forehead creasing as she read over a sentence that was a little confusing. “Now leave me alone… I can’t understand what the fuck this kid was trying to say…”

“I feel odd calling you Max now—”

“Look,” she snapped lightly, poking her head over the back of the couch to glare at him, “it’s a stupid name, so I go by a better one.”

His eyebrows shot up as if to question that, but she ignored him and sunk back down into the couch. Very few people now knew her actual name, and if she could help it, that’s the way it was going to stay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for taking ages to get this thing updated. I'm dedicating a day a week to fanfiction going forward, so you can expect a weekly update!


	14. Pumpkin Patch: Part 1

It may have made her a total four-year-old, but Max was ridiculously excited to go to the pumpkin patch. 

Yes, a week ago she had been stressing about school and work and her assignments, but as the day loomed closer, it soon became the only thought to occupy her mind. The obsession dated back to her childhood, during which she and Nolan would be taken to a farm by their dad, and they would spend the day climbing in forts made of hay, scouring the patch for the perfect pumpkin, and taking it home with an assortment of homemade baked goods to devour that night. It was such a fun time, and she reintroduced it to her friends in high school. It was always such a wonderful experience, and she spent the day laughing and frolicking about in weather that wasn’t too cold, but had just enough of a crisp edge to it to be considered fall. Those feelings extended all the way to Halloween, which was by far her favourite holiday: dressing up and getting free candy from strangers? What was there not to like?

Now that they were in their twenties, there were only a select few who shared her slightly insane enthusiasm for pumpkins and any other festivity associated with Halloween, but the ones who did always managed to make it out to the patch. 

Loki barely seemed the slightest bit fazed at the thought of going to pick a pumpkin, and Max assumed it was because he forgot over the course of his week. He had endured two tests in two days, and worked every single night at the bookstore. In short, he was exhausted, and actually fell asleep at the kitchen island last night on top of a textbook. When she reminded him about their impending adventure, he seemed less than thrilled with the idea, but she went out of her way to assure him it would be a relaxing and fun, and that everyone needed a day off here and there or they would burn out. The second option seemed to be the one that persuaded him as he sat on the toilet brushing his teeth last night, Max lurking in the doorway with a bouncy energy that would have driven her insane if she had been in Loki’s position. 

Thankfully, she wasn’t in his position. She had only worked one shift at the bookstore last week, which gave her ample time to get caught up on all of her assignments due in the next two weeks, and get a solid chunk of TA work done. There was still too much to do, obviously, but she put that completely out of her mind as she crawled into bed the night before, dreaming of pumpkin houses and mice instead of first year coursework. 

When she woke up that morning, she nearly bounced out of bed. Loki had yet to rise, but they weren’t leaving for the patch until the early afternoon, which meant he could sleep in for the first time all week. Max busied herself with breakfast making and email checking, the TV at a dull roar in the background. Pat had finally sent her over the information for the volunteer/internship position at the British museum that they had discussed briefly, but Max wasn’t really in a state of mind to read too much into the details of the application. Instead, she flaked out on the couch and watched the reality reruns that she had missed during the week while she was doing assignments.

Loki surfaced about an hour later, shuffling along in his usual grey nightshirt and black boxer shorts. She cast him an appreciative sidelong glance as he passed, and then lost sight of him when he disappeared back into the kitchen.

“Morning,” Max greeted as she listened to him fumble around for a bowl. 

“Unfortunately.” 

“Oh, someone’s a grumpy Gus today,” she chuckled as she turned herself around and leaned against the back of the couch. “Wake up and get excited!”

“They aren’t all going to be as shrill as you, are they?” Loki inquired tightly as he poured some milk in a bowl, “I don’t think I can take a full day of this kind of energy.”

“Hey,” she snapped playfully. “Hurtful.”

He scoffed a little, rolling his eyes, which made her smirk. Tiffany, Garret’s girlfriend, was probably going to be as giddy as she was, but the boys were always much more restrained. While Ben and Garret had been her high school companions for trips to the pumpkin patch, Tiffany hadn’t joined the ranks until about two years earlier when she began dating Ben’s roommate. She was from Cincinnati, a little wider than average, and had boobs that would put even Erica’s curvaceous features to shame. However, she was also one of the nicest people Max had the pleasure of knowing, and there was a little secret part of her that was smug to be the redhead’s friend. Loki was bound to like her; he seemed to be a boob type of guy, anyway. 

“You know what I was thinking?” Max asked as she continued to study her roommate. He glanced up at her as he scooped a spoonful of cereal in his mouth, and then raised his eyebrows curiously. She nibbled on her lower lip, and then tried to phrase her wording delicately, “I think… we need to cut your hair.”

Loki frowned at her, and then ran a hand through his shoulder-length black hair, “Why?”

“Well, maybe this is stylish in… in England,” Max said quickly, “but I think it’s verging on the point of too long for Masonville. Maybe we could trim it a bit?”

“Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?”

“Not in the slightest bit,” Max replied honestly. She wasn’t sure if he was aware of just how many girls checked him out whenever he was in public, but Melissa had reported an increase in undergraduate girls lurking around Loki’s section at the bookstore. So, in short, she was never really embarrassed to be seen with him. “I just thought I’d let you know it’s getting a bit long… I can cut it over the sink for free, if you want.”

“I’ll consider it,” he told her as he drifted back toward his bedroom. 

She watched him until he disappeared, and then settled back down in front of the TV, a little giddy from the interaction. Actually, the entire day was making her giddy, but comfortable chats with Loki were always things that put her in a good mood. Her crush levels were holding stable for now, but that meant they were holding stable at a high place. Max had gotten more used to him and his mannerisms now that they had been living together for over a month, but there was still the odd moment where he could make her blush with a comment or a look. She suspected her crush was the only reason she had offered to pay half of his rent for October. Loki had managed to make some money from working at the bookstore, and forked it over entirely toward rent, but that meant he was back to being broke. 

He didn’t seem to grasp how quickly money could be made and spent when you had a zillion things to pay for on your own. They had still been trying to track down his mystery bank account that supposedly housed enough funds to cover his rent for the following months, but that mission seemed a little fruitless. There were dozens of banks out there, and most of them weren’t willing to simply hand out account information because she asked nicely, and Loki was a step above useless with no real information about account numbers and personal information. Max had a sinking suspicion one of his parents had made the account for him, which would explain why he had almost no idea how to access it. 

The minutes rolled by quickly in front of the TV, and before she knew it, it was time for her to get out of her sweats and into something only marginally more presentable for her trip to the pumpkin patch. Max opted against washing her hair, as she assumed it would be a mess by the end of the day anyway, and instead had a quick rinse and added only a smidgen of make-up – crush still at critical levels, remember? 

Once that was sorted out, Max darted back to her bedroom and picked her outfit for the day. She still wanted to look cute, considering she was spending the day with Loki doing something that wasn’t school or work related, and opted with a pair of fitted jeans with holes in the knees. She stood in front of the mirror hanging in her closet for a bit, admiring the way they made her butt look better than it normally did, and then hastily chose a bright red top to match. 

After lollygagging around on her computer for a little while, drifting listlessly between Facebook and various other pointless social media websites, Max glanced back at her door when she heard Loki’s open. Much to her surprise, she could hear shoes walking carefully along the hardwood floor, and she was quickly on her feet. They weren’t supposed to leave for another twenty minutes, and it wasn’t like Loki to be this keen for something he had almost no interest in. So, she bounced over to her doorway and poked her head out to investigate. 

“Hey,” Max called, making Loki stop just before the kitchen area, “where are you going?”

“Nowhere.” 

‘Nowhere’ her ass… He was dressed in his usual jogging gear; right down to the old runners he bought second-hand downtown.

“Are you trying to sneak out and go jogging?” she demanded as she followed him out of her room, hands on her hips as her eyes narrowed at him, “We’re leaving in fifteen minutes.”

“I just…” he trailed off, and then made a dash for the door. She laughed loudly, but then realized he was serious when he grabbed his keys off the island as he darted by. Oh, hell no. Hell to the no. 

Max tore off after him in her socks, moving quietly enough to catch him when he might have thought she had stayed inside. She caught him at the end of their small porch, and once she had her hands on his shoulders, she leapt up and onto his back, long legs curling around his waist. 

“Max,” he whined.

“You’re going to miss the patch, and you said you’d go,” she ground out firmly. “So you can jog with me on your back, or you can make this easier for both of us and go get ready for pumpkin time. It’s your call…”

He sighed noisily, and then threw his hands up as he turned back toward the apartment. “I can’t believe you’re doing this to me.”

“You said you would come with me,” Max argued as she clung to his back, which was incredibly solid beneath her. “What’s your issue today?”

“Nothing… I suppose I feel a little tired after this week,” Loki admitted once they were back inside. She slid off his back and shut the door behind them, and then folded her arms across her chest. 

“Today will be a great distraction from everything,” she insisted, and then pointed toward his bedroom. “Go put on something you feel comfortable in, and then we’ll go pick everyone up.”

He shot her a bit of a look over his shoulder as he trudged back toward his room, and she grinned happily in return. A little part of her hoped that she wasn’t pushing him to do more than he wanted. After all, if she wasn’t in the mood to do something social, she would have been highly annoyed that someone went out of their way to force her to participate. However, Loki really didn’t have anything else other than school, work, and Max. At least Max could meet up with friends for lunch between classes, and had Pat to chat with whenever she was too bored; Loki opted to let his mind go to mush in front of the TV whenever he wasn’t doing anything work or school related. He still didn’t seem to want to make any actual friends in any of his classes, but she couldn’t really blame him for that; everyone was at least seven or eight years younger, so finding the bonding elements might have been a challenge. 

Max decided that she needed to really push him in order to get him out of his shell, and even if he was annoyed with her for a brief period of time, she knew he would appreciate it after. Besides, everything she had dragged him to turned into a fairly good time, and he did like her friends, so there weren’t many downsides to getting him out and into a social setting.

Loki surfaced some moments later dressed in a smart pair of dark jeans, fitted in a way that made her eye him appreciatively, and a green plaid shirt. He tugged at it awkwardly, since he seemed to have gotten a size just a bit too small – either that or she shrunk it in the wash when she did their last shared load. Woops. 

“Question,” she said as she slipped on her black fall coat, hoping that it wouldn’t be too warm romping around outside in it. 

“Hmm?”

“I’m not… I’m not forcing you to do this kind of stuff, am I?”

He glanced up as her as he forced his feet into a pair of shoes, disbelief plain on his features, and then smirked. “Was that a serious question?”

“Yeah,” she replied, leaning back against the front door as she watched him slide into his black jacket neatly. “I mean… I don’t want to make you do something you really, really don’t want to do. I just… want you to get the experience and be included in some fun stuff every so often. But you know, if you ever… really don’t want to, or—”

“Max,” he sighed, raising a finger to silence her, “I know what you are doing… I understand your intentions. If I was ever so vehemently opposed to your suggestions, you would know.”

“Okay, good,” Max beamed, snatching up her worn black boots and shoving her feet into them. “Come on then… We’re going to be late.”

“Don’t see how you can be late to something that doesn’t have a start time,” he muttered as he followed her out, but shot her a bit of a cheeky grin when she glanced up at him. Max smacked his arm playfully as he passed, and they marched through the parking lot beneath a glorious sun. There were just enough clouds in the sky to give them coverage when it was needed, but the sun kept a fall day in mid-October tolerable and warmer than days when it was raining and dreary, so they ought to be thankful. 

As Loki climbed into the car, she fired a quick text to Ben to let him know they were on their way, and then sidled into the driver’s seat. 

“When can I learn how to drive?” Loki inquired, his eyes on her hands as she did the usual warm-up with checking mirrors and getting the engine going. 

“Whenever you want,” she insisted. “Whenever you have a free day.”

“Next Saturday?” 

Max pursed her lips as they rolled out of the parking lot onto the usual quiet street, and then shook her head. “I have a midterm Sunday morning, so probably not… Why don’t we try for after Halloween?”

“Before I make a fool of myself in front of your friends,” Loki started. “Halloween is that holiday where you all dress up, correct?”

“Yup,” Max said with a smile, her eyes focused on the road. “It was traditionally done to scare the demons away… or… something… because they all come back from the dead that night. Something like that.”

“Your strength in vocabulary never ceases to amaze me,” he sighed. “Will I be forced to dress up on this event?”

“Oh, we’re going to go crazy on your costume,” Max said excitedly. “We’re holding nothing back…”

“I see you’ve given this a great deal of thought already.”

“I don’t know what you’re going to be,” she insisted, hoping that she hadn’t come across as a creep, “but whatever you decide on will be made epic. Tiffany does awesome special effects make-up, so we can do like… an eyeball hanging halfway down your face, or have your throat slit… It’ll be awesome.”

“I think I might actually like this holiday,” he mused as they turned onto Ben’s street. “It seems very… childish, all of this with the pumpkins and costumes. A child’s fantasy to frighten dead beings…”

“Well, a little,” Max admitted with a nod. She pulled up next to the curb by Ben’s house and honked twice, and finally looked at Loki. “It’s all a bit childish, but I think there’s a part of everyone in them that doesn’t want to grow up. I mean… I’ve been going to this patch since I was… five? Yeah, five. It’s mostly families and their kids, but it’s the good feeling it gives you, you know?”

“I suppose I will see when the day is finished,” he mused, glancing out the window when Max waved to an approaching Ben and Tiffany. They were all dressed similarly: jeans and fall jackets, though Tiffany had a pair of bright yellow combat boots that made Max a little jealous. 

“Morning, ladies,” she crooned as she slid into the back seat, automatically taking her usual spot in the middle. “How are we today?”

“Excited as fuck,” Max replied as elegantly as she could. “Have you met my roommate yet?”

“No,” Tiffany remarked, sliding forward and extending her hand for Loki to shake, bracelets dangling noisily. “I’m Tiffany, Garret’s girlfriend.”

“Loki,” he responded, his large hand completely engulfing her small one when he shook it. “Pleasure to meet you.”

“Oh, formal,” Tiff giggled, shooting Max a look with wiggled eyebrows before she eased back into her seat. 

Garret joined the group shortly after, and once they were buckled, Max pulled away from the curb. She could feel Garret’s knees pressed into the back of her seat, but there wasn’t much she could do about that; Ben, Garret, and Loki were all pretty tall, at least six feet, so Tiffany was probably the only comfortable one in the backseat.

“So have you ever gone to the pumpkin patch before, Loki?” Tiffany asked. Max glanced in her rear-view mirror and caught Ben’s eye, and she smiled excitedly at him, a look he returned with relish.

“I can’t say I have,” Loki replied casually as they came to a stop at a set of lights. “Why exactly do we… collect pumpkins?”

“How do you not know—”

“He’s a Brit, guys,” Max said quickly, cutting Garret off mid-question. “They clearly don’t do anything fun over there.”

“Which is actually kind of funny, because the tradition of the jack-o-lantern comes out of Irish and English folklore,” Ben interjected before Tiffany could offer a less historical reasoning for slicing things into pumpkins. Loki turned in his seat to eye her friend, and Ben carried on quickly. 

“You see, people place carved pumpkins with lights in them to protect their homes from the Undead. It comes from a tale where a man named Jack warded off the Devil by tricking him… He was a thief, and even though he held the Devil off from taking him to Hell, when he eventually died, he wasn’t welcome in Heaven or Hell. The Devil supposedly gave him an ember that would never burn out, and he placed it inside a hollowed out vegetable while his soul was cursed to wander the Earth forever. He became known as Jack of the Lantern, and that turned into jack-o-lantern.”

“Your head is an encyclopedia,” Garret muttered, and Max grinned when Tiffany smacked his arm. 

“And how does that ward off the Undead?” Loki asked. 

“Oh, well, people believe that the light will frighten away vampires,” Ben explained, “and those are the true Undead on Earth. Jack’s story just gives them the name, I guess.”

“The more you know,” Max trilled, citing that old commercial that spewed random facts at grade school children under the guise of being educational. Ben chuckled in the back. 

“How else would you all know so many useful facts about our world if I didn’t tell you?”

“My head wouldn’t be crammed with so much useless shit,” Garret insisted playfully. “Do you know we have a Fun Facts wall at our house on the second floor? Guess who is the only one who updates it?”

“None of you seem to have fun facts,” Ben argued weakly. 

“Well, I always like reading it,” Tiffany stated. Loki chuckled softly as he turned back to face the front, and she met his gaze for a brief moment, which resulted in smiles on both sides. 

Max flicked on the radio as they neared the edge of Masonville, and then fiddled around with the stations until she found one that wasn’t riddled with static. In the meantime, her friends managed to keep the conversation going with Loki adding bits and pieces occasionally. The pumpkin patch was a good forty minutes away; the distance may have been a little unnecessary, but it was the same farm they had been going to since they were in high school, so it had a significance that made the drive worth it. 

The roads were fairly empty, and the gorgeous weather seemed to extend beyond Masonville. The trees littered the sides of the freeway, and Max felt her mood lift to an immeasurable level when she examined the beautiful mixture of coloured leaves on both sides of her. At that very moment, an ancient tune belted from the radio, and Tiffany demanded she turn up the volume. 

“No, god,” Garret groaned as he kicked at her chair. “Please spare my eardrums.”

Max smirked as she reached for the circular volume knob, and Tiffany immediately began belting a fairly terrible rendition of Aqua’s Dr. Jones circa 1997. 

Ben moaned from the backseat and placed his hands over his ears. “Loki, you’re our only hope!” 

She and Loki turned to one another at that exact same time, and she raised an eyebrow, daring him to make a move toward the volume control. It was lucky for them that there was no one else on the road; it appeared to be nothing more than a lazy Saturday afternoon, and most of the traffic had stopped once they hit country roads. 

“So, where does that hand think it’s going?” she inquired as she spied Loki’s hand creeping toward the radio control system between them. 

“Oh, nowhere,” Loki remarked casually. “If you hear a sudden drop in screeching, don’t be alarmed—”

However, before he could get any closer, Max slapped the top of his hand with extreme accuracy, and he hastily retracted it. 

“Don’t mess with Aqua,” she warned him, her best attempt at a serious expression foiled when Tiffany belted the repeated chorus, her voice cracking horribly from the back. She couldn’t help but snort, and Loki focused on nursing his hand a little too dramatically. 

When the song finally came to a glorious end, Max turned down the volume to allow for some sort of conversation to resume, and Garret immediately suggested a game to pass the time. 

“Ben,” he began. “Blonde or brunette?”

Ben paused for a moment, and she watched him in the mirror as he shrugged and sheepishly remarked, “Brunette.”

Loki shot her a knowing look, which she pointedly ignored. 

“Tiff,” Ben continued. “Sex on the beach or sex in a car?”

“Dirty mind, Ben!” Max said, shocked that her normally awkward friend had jumped to the meatier questions so early on in the game. Tiffany rolled her eyes, arms folded across her ample chest, and then shrugged. 

“Car,” she replied casually. “Too much sand in too many places on the beach. Max, intelligence or looks?”

She sucked in her cheeks, as though it was a difficult question, and then shook her head. “Guess I’ll have to go with looks.”

“The rules of This or That demands honesty,” Garret said loudly. “I challenge that response!”

“You’re such a loser,” Max laughed. “You know my answer is intelligence. Right… Loki, Kraft Dinner or my mom’s homemade pasta?”

“No contest,” Loki remarked, clearly catching onto the fairly simplistic game without her needing to explain too much. “The homemade noodles will win every time.”

“Those things could win a Nobel Prize,” Ben added from the back, and she grinned. They all waited for a moment for Loki to pose his question, but he sat in silence, as though watching a game unfurl that he wasn’t involved in. 

“Go,” she whispered. “Ask your question.”

“Right,” he said quickly. “Uh, Tiffany… Green or purple?”

Not the best question in the history of questions, but there had definitely been worse. 

“Purple,” Tiffany responded without missing a beat. “Garret, boxers or briefs?”

“Boxers all day every day,” her boyfriend insisted coyly. Ben made a gagging sound as the two grinned at one another, and Max giggled a little. 

The game continued for another ten minutes or so, until it finally landed back on her. She decided after seeing the sign for her beloved pumpkin patch, her last question would be posed to Loki, who had come out of the game relatively unscathed. 

“Loki,” Max started, “boobs or butt?”

“What?” he asked, eyebrows shooting up as he stared over at her. She smirked. 

“Which do you prefer?”

It wasn’t really something that she needed to know, but she thought you could tell a lot about a guy by which part of a woman’s anatomy he had a preference for. Loki pondered it over for a moment, and she glanced over at him as she slowed the car down. They were approaching more traffic at this point, and she had probably been a little too heavy on the gas when there was no one else around. 

His eyes flickered down to her legs for a split second, just slow enough for her to catch, and he smirked.

“Legs.”

She nibbled on her lower lip a little, her cheeks igniting in a way they hadn’t done once that morning. 

“Diplomatic answer,” Garret laughed from behind her. 

“Truthful, I should say,” Loki offered in response. Max forced her gaze back to the road, unable to keep a massive smile from spreading across her face.


	15. The Pumpkin Patch: Part 2

Judging from the amount of cars in the parking lot, Max deduced that the patch was a little busier than they had expected. It wasn’t going to be a problem, though when Garret mused about shoving children aside in order to get a spot on the tractor-towed trailer ride out to get the actual pumpkins, Loki seemed mildly unimpressed. 

However, after a car ride of being social, Max decided Loki was allowed to have a few moments of irritation with the state of her giddy friends. Once she pulled her old car into the make-shift dirt parking lot, Max finally turned off the vehicle and unbuckled her seatbelt, pleased to be getting out after the drive up. Her legs felt a little stiff at the movement, and she stretched upward happily, feeling some joints crack. Satisfied, she adjusted her jacket, and then joined Loki’s side as they followed the rest of the group toward the entrance of the patch. 

The layout was fairly simplistic; all customers paid a small entrance fee at the main shed, fences on either side, and once they passed through they had free access to everything that there was to offer. There were two barns for visitors to enjoy, one that housed various sorts of animals, and the other that had been reconstructed as a children’s play zone with tunnels, rope swings, and hay just about everywhere. She noticed that they had upped the safety aspects of that particular barn over the last few years, and kids weren’t allowed to climb up into the rafters and jump down like she and Nolan did when they were younger. 

Aside from the barns, there was a small market that sold fresh homemade goods, like pies and muffins. There were also dozens of wooden cut-outs of various characters with the faces missing, which she was usually forced to take ridiculous pictures behind at the request of her friends – a task she would groan about, but secretly enjoy. One area was a sandpit filled with various toys for the younger kids, and next to that was a haunted house that tended to stay the same year after year, but was always worth a good scream or two regardless. A standard feature of almost every pumpkin patch she went to was a large corn maze, and on the other side loomed the massive pumpkin field that one was taken to by a tractor ride. 

At this point, Max had been to this particular pumpkin patch so many times that she could have walked through it with her eyes shut. She strolled through the parking lot with her hands in her pockets, and then stiffened slightly when Loki wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She was still reeling from his final response to the This or That game, so even the slightest touch brought colour to her cheeks. When he leaned down, his voice in her ear, she was surprised she managed to keep the composure she did. 

“He’s so desperately in love with you,” Loki droned, nodding in Ben’s direction. “It’s actually entertaining to watch him beg for your attention.”

“Stop it,” she hissed, a little turned off that he brought it up. 

She had noticed Ben chiming in a little more than usual in the conversation, especially if the topic related to her in some way, but Max firmly told herself that he was always like this, and she was only thinking too much about it because Loki tried to make it a big deal. 

“You can’t deny it,” Loki told her cheekily. “I’m surprised he didn’t fight me for the front seat…”

“All right, let’s keep the crazy opinions to ourselves, shall we?” Max mused as they joined up with the other three at the cash area. Loki simply grinned in response, and she nudged his arm off her when Ben glanced over his shoulder. 

She reached into her pocket to retrieve her change; Max had brought enough to pay for herself and Loki (seeing as she was forcing him here and all) and then the remainder would cover two pies that would be their desserts for the next month. However, after Garret and Tiffany sorted out their entrance, she watched Ben fork out enough cash to cover the remainder of the tickets. 

“What are you doing?” she asked as the woman behind a small table handed Ben three tickets. “You didn’t—”

“Consider it my payment for gas,” Ben insisted softly as he stuffed two tickets into her hand.

“You don’t have to pay for gas,” Man groaned, but he held up his hands and backed away, his grin growing into a bigger smile as she smirked at him. 

Shaking her head, she turned back and handed the final ticket to Loki, who gave her a pointed look. She rolled her eyes and held up a warning finger. “Don’t say anything.”

“Haven’t the slightest idea what you’re implying,” Loki remarked as he sauntered passed her and toward the actual entrance of the patch. Pursing her lips, Max hurried up after the crowd, flashing her ticket toward an elderly woman seated on a lawn chair as though she were some form of security. 

Once inside, her brief moments of anxiety disappeared as she looked around the familiar setting. She took a deep breath, and was then tugged by Garret to pose at the wooden cut-outs of cartoon characters for the camera. Tiffany begged Loki to be in one with her, but that seemed like one task her roommate wasn’t up for, and instead offered to point the camera at whatever they wanted. 

So, with their hands free, the remaining four of the group were able to take a ridiculous amount of stupid pictures around the wooden cut-outs, and she deduced that they were probably the most immature of all the patrons there that day. The final photo was one of her and Ben as an old, obscenely fat couple holding a pig between them, but they ended up switching places so that Max was the husband and Ben was the wife, their faces stoic. 

With the obligatory photos out of the way, most of them approved by both Max and Tiffany for online posting once they were home, they essentially moved wherever Tiffany wanted to go. The short redhead bounced all over the place, insisting that they have a look at the sheep before they went much further. So, it was off to the animal barn for a brief visit, and while Garret, Ben, and Tiffany raced inside, Max lingered behind with Loki. 

“So this is what you did as a girl?” he asked as he gave the dark green barn a once over. 

“Well, not all the time,” Max insisted, realizing how quaint and boring it might seem, “but it goes with the season, you know?”

“Apparently.”

Her eyes narrowed at the thought of him judging one of her favourite events of the entire month, but she let it drop when he wandered into the barn, nose wrinkled at the scent of animal. She stayed by his side, preferring not to leave him alone; normally she would have flocked from pen to pen with Tiffany or Ben to make judgements about the animals inside, but she figured it would be rude to leave him out of these things. They eventually meandered toward a fairly large cow, who was currently eating grain out of a small girl’s hand. However, both stopped in their tracks when the beast sneezed violently, an array of snot and half-chewed grain spraying across the girl’s face. They parted the way quickly as the girl raced out shrieking for her mom, and then turned back toward the large doorway without a word exchanged between the two. 

After the other three had gotten their fill of farm animal for the year, Max eyed the haunted house across the way and grinned. 

“So,” she started, nodding toward it excitedly, “are we ready for our pre-Halloween scare?”

Tiffany made a face and then clung to Garret’s arm. “I might sit it out this year—”

“I’ll protect you,” Garret insisted as he gave the side of her head a reassuring kiss. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.”

“I know, but it still scares me.”

“Statistically,” Ben started, “no one has ever experienced more than a panic attack in these sorts of things unless their health was already an issue… Most people just feel claustrophobic rather than actual terror, and the darkness can make it difficult for the senses to tell your brain exactly what’s happening to it.”

“Thanks for explaining how a haunted house works,” Garret told him with a chuckle. “I wasn’t aware darkness was disorientating… Come on, let’s get it over it.”

“What exactly is this?” Loki asked warily as they moved toward the building, screams emanating from its depths. “It sounds like a torture chamber.”

“Oh, it’s just a house that you walk through,” Max insisted casually, shrugging off his concerns as though they were trivial. “Not for the faint of heart, mind you, so if you want to sit out with Tiffany, you can.”

“I never said that.”

“I’m just saying,” Max goaded, shooting him a grin over her shoulder as they hurried toward the building. “You have the chance to back out now.”

“Why do I suspect you’re all talk?” Loki mused, “But you’ll leave it looking like that…”

She followed his pointed finger toward the exit on the other side of the building, and quickly spotted a preteen girl leading a sobbing toddler out by the hand. Max stuck her tongue out at him, and then trekked on fearlessly, following behind Garret and a cowering Tiffany into the darkness. It was the same as always: a few surprise scares here, some horrible laughter there, a hand grabbing at her from behind a wall, snarling, moving eyes in portraits, and ghastly scenes staged by theatre props. There were a few times that she did actually scream, mostly prompted on by Tiffany’s shrieking, and she had instinctively clutched for Loki’s hand behind her. When she did, he seemed to hold back just as tight, which seemed to numb the fear for the time being. 

Once they stumbled through the final door and back out into the daylight, she turned back to ask him what he thought of it, only to find herself facing Ben, her hand in his. Fuck. 

“I think it was a little scarier this year,” he admitted. Max tugged her hand away quickly, and he ran his now freed one through his shaggy hair, swallowing noticeably. _Fuuuuck._

She heard Loki snort from behind, and he shut the door to the haunted house noisily as he stepped outside. 

“I’m not really sure what the fuss was about,” he admitted, shooting a look at a quivering Tiffany as Garret soothed her. “I mean, everything was false.”

“Well, did you expect real axe murders chasing us at the end?” Max asked sarcastically, rolling her eyes a little. Ben lingered in front of her, his eyes on her face as though he was oblivious to the fact that he was staring, and she cleared her throat. “Ben, why don’t you check tractor times? Tiff could probably do with some wide open spaces for a bit.”

“Yeah, sure.”

She watched as he sauntered off toward a small station, which usually had a sign posted to announce the arrival of the next tractor to take a new group out to get pumpkins. 

“He pushed me right out of the way to be your hero,” Loki teased, head ducked down so that he could whisper it quietly to her. She glared at him. 

“No, he didn’t,” she snapped, knowing full-well Ben wasn’t the kind of guy to take that sort of initiative. “Stop meddling here when there’s nothing to meddle with.”

“But meddling is what I do,” Loki insisted, the hairs on the back of her neck rising quickly as he spoke. “It’s part of my appeal.”

“It’s not as attractive as you think it is,” Max remarked carefully, shooting him a bit of a warning look as she spied Ben approaching. 

“Okay, so there is one leaving in five minutes, or fifteen minutes,” Ben told the group once they had gathered around. 

“Why don’t we do the corn maze first then?” Max suggested, fully aware that it was an integral part of the experience that would be more difficult with pumpkins to lug around after. 

“Deal!” Tiffany giggled, clearly recovered from her ordeal in the dark. The corn maze was probably her favourite part about the entire trip. “All right, so first to the exit doesn’t have to pay for their pumpkin?”

“As always.” Garret grinned. 

There were four entrances to the pumpkin patch, and normally each person took one of the entrances, and first to the finish didn’t have to purchase their pumpkin. However, seeing as there were five people this time around, Max grabbed Loki’s arm to drag him toward one of the openings. 

“Oh no,” Tiffany said loudly, grabbing Loki’s other arm and giving it a tug, “he’s with me… I need all the height I can get to win this thing.”

Garret certainly didn’t seem to have any objections to the coupling, having already gone to the entrance he thought would suit him the best. Loki shot her a bit of a pleading look over his shoulder as Tiffany dragged him away, but she merely shrugged, secretly a little pleased to see him squirm. At least he wasn’t being left out of anything; Tiffany would probably ride him through the maze and come out victorious. Sneaky plan, Tiff… Sneaky plan. 

Max took her place at one of the entrances, and then bent down as though getting ready to start a race. She could already hear kids laughing and screeching inside, but she was sure none of her friends would go too overboard with their competitive desire to win – no need to push any little ones out of the way, or anything. 

Well, no need to push them hard. This wasn’t just about not paying for a pumpkin – it was about honour. 

“On your marks,” Garret shouted officially, his hands up in the air. “Get set… Go!”

She took off like a shot, grinning to herself as she waved through the narrow lanes of corn. It would have been easy to just cut through everything in order to come out on the other side, but then what was the point in playing at all? She darted left as her maze turned, and then came to a stop at a T-junction. Left or right? At this point, she knew that she was turned around and on the far left of the field, so she opted to take the right and see where that brought her. Thus far, she hadn’t hit a dead end, and she heard Tiffany curse somewhere nearby to indicate that she and Loki might have. 

Max smirked a little, and then tried to put as much distance between her and them as she could. However, as her trail opened up into another, she heard a set of footsteps thundering toward her, and shrieked a little when Ben appeared at her side. 

“We seem like-minded,” he commented, a little out of breath. “Have you seen anyone else?”

“I heard Tiffany—”

“The world heard Tiffany.” Ben chuckled, hands on his hips as he clearly tried to appear not to pant. “There were a few angry moms back there who heard her too.”

Max laughed at the thought, and then became acutely aware of just how close her friend was standing to her body. The atmosphere suddenly became uncomfortable, and she took a step back in an effort to alleviate it. 

“So,” Ben said suddenly, his cheeks a tad pink. “I was thinking—”

“Oh, look!” Max cried, pleased to see Loki’s head bobbing by two rows over. “There they go!”

She couldn’t deal with that kind of shit from Ben right now, and she definitely didn’t need anyone proving Loki right in this case.

So, she tried her best to keep cheerful, laughing frequently as she and Ben darted through the trails of corn stocks. They paused every so often to check if their competitors were nearby, and eventually they managed to find a clear path that took them straight to the exit. The only problem was that Tiff and Loki ended up emerging from a trail nearby at roughly the same time, and Max realized it would be a rush to the finish. Without much said between them, all four tore off toward the exit, and Max ended up shrieking in surprise when she felt Loki loop his arms around her waist and haul her back. 

“What are you doing?” she grunted, legs flailing as she tried to squirm out of his grasp, “You’re going to make me lose!”

“I struck a deal with Tiffany,” Loki muttered cheekily. “If I get rid of you, and she tackles Ben, we’ll win as a team.”

“Lame!” Max groaned. 

In the distance, she watched Tiffany shove Ben into a wall of corn, and she sighed as the woman pranced out the exit with her hands in the air. “She wins every year! You were just a pawn…”

“Don’t be bitter because you lost,” he chuckled, setting her down gently. His arms lingered around her frame, and she felt her cheeks darken as Loki whispered, “If you ask nicely, I could say you were involved in the team too.”

Max wriggled loose and pushed him away, trying desperately not to smile too much. “Traitor!”

At that very moment, he leaned down, as though going in to kiss her, and she felt her breath hitch in her throat. However, he came to a stop a few millimetres from her lips, and then laughed. 

“Not a traitor,” he insisted pleasantly, “a strategist.” 

Her breath tumbled out gracelessly after he sauntered away, and Max licked her lips as she watched Loki help Ben to his feet a little further up the trail. She could hear children giggling somewhere nearby, and she hurried after the group, her stomach squirming happily at what had just transpired. 

In the end, it turned out that Garret had beaten every single other person to the exit, and gloated quite happily at the prospect of finding the biggest pumpkin he could find for the rest of them to pay for. Tiffany seemed a little grumpy to be beaten for the first time, but her mood perked considerably when they spotted the tractor rolling in to take the next group to gather their pumpkins. The group raced over, not wanting to lose their spot to a group of preteens, and clambered onto the back of a fairly large trailer that ought to be able to hold at least fifteen people. Seated on hay bales, Max found herself stuck snugly between Loki and Ben, a place she definitely didn’t want to be. Tiff took a seat on Garret’s lap, and they watched in an excited silence as the trailer started to fill up with other families. 

She felt Ben’s arm touch her back lightly as he brought it up to rest on the wooden gate behind her; Max licked her lips and sighed, asking some higher being to give her patience. When the tractor started up, it was too noisy for anyone to get any sort of good conversation in, and Max felt herself relax as they pulled out and made their trip around the width of the corn field, onward and outward toward the patch on the other side. There were little scenes along the way of goblins and ghouls buried within the stalks of corn, and Max pointed them out to Loki in the same way a nearby young boy did with his father. Loki responded with the same bemused smile that the man did with his boy, and she felt like he was just humouring her. She then kept her finger to herself, and decided he could find his own damn scenery if he was only going to humour her. 

The ride lasted about ten minutes to get around the cornfield and go up a small hill, at the top of which was a lush patch of pumpkins. They were going fairly early on in the month at this point, which meant there were still going to be good pumpkins around for them to choose from. Once the tractor came to a halt, they all waited as the gaggle of children rushed off the trailer, and soon followed them out into the field. The tractor would return in fifteen minutes, according to the driver, and they had the option of catching it then or waiting until the following one. 

Or they could walk back, but that seemed unappealing with a large pumpkin in hand.

“All right,” Loki said as he surveyed the field with his arms folded. “Am I to just… pick the one I want?”

“That’s the gist of it, yup,” she told him with a nod. “Go… Be free! Find one that will be good enough to carve something into. We’ll do that when we get home.”

“Oh, the anticipation is welling up within me,” he muttered as he started out into the field, stumbling a little over a pile of dirt. She smirked at him; he was secretly pretty pumped to be here, she knew that. 

Max veered off to the left, on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin of her own, and soon found herself joined by a certain little redhead. 

“So,” Tiffany started, pausing when Max did in order to get a closer look at a moderately large pumpkin. Too big. “Are you and him a thing?”

“What?”

“You and Loki.”

Max swallowed nervously, her cheeks reddening, and she shook her head, “No, no, that’d be weird. I just… He’s really good looking, you know?”

“I noticed, yeah.”

“I like to flirt sometimes,” she told her friend with a shrug. “I mean, it’s fun and it doesn’t mean anything, so why not?”

“I guess,” Tiffany agreed as they carried on, stopping only once to pick up a perfectly round little pumpkin and holding it close to her chest. “It’d be super weird if you guys did anything considering you live together.”

“I know, right?” Max laughed, pushing her hair out of her face as she surveyed the field. There were a few pumpkins that caught her eye, and she sloshed through the dirt in order to inspect them. “It’d be so weird.”

“But you aren’t into him, right?”

“It’s just a physical thing,” Max insisted, more to herself than to Tiff. “He’s good looking, and we get along, so it’s easy to be flirty… but otherwise there’s nothing for anyone to be worried about.”

“Fair enough,” Tiffany commented. “I asked if he was into you when we were in the maze.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “What?”

“I just had this feeling,” Tiffany continued. “He didn’t really say anything… Maybe if I get a few drinks in him he might be a bit more forthcoming. He’s charming.”

“Yeah, he’s been known to do that sometimes.”

“Well, when he’s living with a hot piece like you…” 

Max snorted noisily, and she finally ducked down to examine a pumpkin that seemed just right to her. It was easy to carry, and one side seemed a little flatter than the rest, which could work for carving or as a backing to rest against a wall. Perfect. With that in hand, the conversation drifted more toward Tiffany and Garret’s relationship, and the two girls sauntered back toward the pick-up spot to wait for the boys. Loki joined them shortly after, a moderately sized pumpkin in hand, and he opted to sit on the ground by her legs, back against the hay bale she was seated on. Max carried on her conversation as though he wasn’t there, almost acutely aware that more than one person would be watching their interactions for signs of a growing attraction. 

As always, Ben and Garret took their sweet time finding the perfect pumpkins, and were forced to race across the field to make the tractor back with Loki and the girls. Max and Tiffany spent a couple of minutes making fun of their scramble onto the back of the trailer, massive pumpkins in hand, and then settled back in for the ride back to the main attractions. 

When the finally returned, it was unanimously decided that it was time for a quick venture to the market to buy some baked goods, and then they ought to start the drive back. The trips here always seemed to fly by, even though they managed to do just about everything possible, and Max felt a small hint of sadness that her annual trip to the pumpkin patch was coming to an end. However, it couldn’t be over without a blueberry and a pumpkin pie in hand, and she made a beeline for both stands, keen on grabbing them before the herd of mothers encroaching on them took all the good ones. 

Tiffany seemed to have the same idea, and it was the boys who lingered by the exit, pumpkins at their feet. Just as she approached after making all of her purchases, Max heard something that made her a little anxious. 

“Max’s real name?” Ben repeated to Loki, his eyebrows up. “Well, I don’t know if—”

“Nope, no, not happening!” Max cried as she nearly pounced on him, shooting Loki a vile look. “That isn’t something you get to know just yet.”

“Haven’t I earned at least the first letter?” Loki inquired playfully, grinning at her as she glared. 

“No!”

“Someone is going to crack,” Loki told them, his eyes dancing from Garret to Ben to Tiffany as she sauntered up. “Someone will tell me before you do.”

“Ha,” she laughed mirthlessly. “No.”

“Wait until I’ve slipped them a few drinks,” her roommate chuckled darkly. “I hardly believe there will be much of a filter for anything then.”

“Well, that’s not happening tonight,” she told him smugly. “Come on… It looks like it’s going to rain.”

Loki glanced up at the darkening sky quickly as she turned away, and she could have sworn she heard him grumble something under his breath about a thunderstorm. She ignored it, momentarily soothed that he wasn’t going to learn the embarrassment that was her first name anytime soon. However, it was fairly clear he was on the prowl, which meant she would have to keep her guard up on just about everything from mail orders to emails. Ugh. 

The car ride back to her apartment was essentially the same as the ride there. They listened to the radio, chatted about school work and TA duties, and Max listened to her friends grill Loki about his future plans with his college degree. The ride home seemed much faster than the one there, and she assumed it was because the better part of the day was over, and there was nothing more to anticipate. Yes, carving pumpkins was fun, but not quite as fun as the actual pumpkin patch itself. However, she had plans to roast the pumpkin seeds after they gutted the innards of the pumpkin. It was her mom’s method, and her friends always seemed to enjoy munching on them in front of the TV. 

She wasn’t all that sure how excited Loki was to endure another couple of hours with her friends, but he seemed much more low-key than she had anticipated. When they pulled up at the apartment complex, he went and unlocked the door first, and cleared off the kitchen island as the rest of them brought in their pumpkins. 

Before they got into slicing up their canvases, Max demanded that they lay down some newspaper so that no one sliced through into the island while working. With that taken care of, they set up their stations, Loki at her right. She then quickly began to preheat the stove, a routine she was familiar with when it came to pumpkin seeds.

* * *

“You want me to just… put my hand in there?”

Loki wrinkled his nose down at the inside of the round, orange vegetable in front of him, and then glanced back at everyone else. He couldn’t understand why anyone would want to do this. In theory, yes, he could see why it might have become a tradition, but why did people feel the need to carry it on? Why couldn’t they let it go to the wayside like dozens of other traditions that he was forced to learn about in his history lessons? It was simply baffling the mundane things that humans did and considered ‘fun’. 

Now, it wasn’t that he had a terrible time today. Quite the contrary, in fact, as Max’s friends had been as pleasant as ever, and there were a number of different things for him to do outside of this miniscule town that he would have never anticipated. Plus, he got to spend most of the trip tormenting both Max and Ben about the man’s growing feelings for Loki’s roommate, which was probably the best part of the day thus far. 

While Max seemed endlessly embarrassed at the thought of it, Ben was especially keen on pursing it… Loki may have pulled him in front as they entered the haunted house, giving him the old nod toward Max, as though giving his permission. However, he liked watching the human’s face fall a little when Max hurried back over to Loki; it was a delightfully mischievous game, something he hadn’t done in years, and for once it meant no ends of worlds or death to humanity – this was just a bit of commonplace entertainment. 

Unfortunately, Loki was quickly learning that his mortal condition brought a much more pressing issue, and it was one that he was starting to find difficult to ignore. As a god, he did have lustful urges, but they were easily controlled and pushed out of his mind. They had never been a distraction before, and yet as a normal, ordinary, pathetic human, they seemed to dominate his every thought whenever he was surrounded by women. Classes were torture, what with these young women and their tight pants and fitted tops. He then had to return home to a woman who was clearly interested in furthering their relationship beyond that of a platonic one, and he had to force himself into a cold shower in order to spend the night next to her on the couch in front of the television screen. It was endlessly frustrating, embarrassing, and his lack of release had a knack for putting him in a sour mood. 

As if he needed another reason to be angry with the way things had turned out for him; he was already living in a worthless body leading some pointless existence, and now he wanted nothing more than to copulate excessively with the women around him! Naturally, he wasn’t completely controlled by his new primal instincts, and he could regulate himself to the point where he was still socially accepted by those around him – Loki wasn’t an animal. However, his patience and resistance to any sort of temptation did not make the thoughts any less poignant if Max was to bend down to grab a fallen book, or Tiffany was to bounce around with that ridiculous chest of hers in front of him. 

Honestly, if all mortal men felt like this most of the time, he wasn’t sure how they had become such a powerful species. 

It was even difficult focusing on his stupid pumpkin with Max nibbling on her lower lip, deep in concentration, and Tiffany peeling off layers of her top because she professed to be warm. Honestly. 

“Yup,” Max replied after a moment, grinning at him as she wedged her hand inside her pumpkin. “Guts out and into the bowl… It will be worth it when we’re done.”

He somehow very much doubted her, but he complied anyway, thinking the stringy insides of the orange vegetable felt more like the innards of an animal than anything else. However, everyone seemed to think it was perfectly normal, and eventually he began to enjoy himself. Not too much, mind you, but he wasn’t as put off by the task as he was at the start. He still couldn’t quite understand the purpose, but perhaps that wasn’t the point – maybe he just ought to enjoy himself and let his brain shut off. 

There were a million other things he could be thinking of at this very moment, but as Max had suggested earlier on in the day, this was a good activity to tune everything out. 

Lately, Loki had been working like a madman, and when he wasn’t fantasizing about pushing some poor, unsuspecting girl up against a bookshelf, he was constantly trying to make himself the best of the best in every category of his new life. He was top of Ludwick’s biology class, and had been from the start. His manager at work gave him nothing but compliments, even though he loathed every single ridiculous minute of serving other snotty teenagers. He did it all in order to gain recognition, and to gain a backing of support. He may not need it now, but there might be a chance in the very near future – if things ever started to go his way – that he could make use of his allies once more. 

“If you throw that at me, I will end you,” Max hissed, her best attempts at a threat falling to deaf ears as the other three carried on their conversation. 

Loki then realized he had a handful of pumpkin innards in one hand, and he had drifted off staring at her as she bent over the kitchen island to throw some of her pumpkin’s guts in the communal bowl. He shrugged his shoulders, trying to appear nonchalant, and then silently berated his ridiculously hormonal mind for making him so easily distracted. 

Once they had all gutted their pumpkins, Max set about washing the seeds, as she intended to cook them. Loki was about to insist that they shouldn’t leave her in charge of anything related to the oven, but she then bent down in front of him to grab a cooking tray from the drawer beneath, and he lost his train of thought. 

Damn it. Blinking rapidly, he turned his attention back to the remaining three. Ben seemed very keen on showing Max a sketch he had done of some metropolitan’s skyline, and he was going to carve it into his pumpkin. Loki assumed the man would have expert detail, considering he seemed to be a bit of a genius when it came to most things other than flirting with the opposite sex. Tiffany was carving a rabbit into hers – apparently she was something of an artist – and her boyfriend seemed to have the same idea as Max. Both of them were drawing pumpkins that looked like they were vomiting, and Max was to save some of the stringy insides for the effect. Meanwhile, Loki decided on producing some sort of checkered pattern of squares all over his orange ball of vegetable, and set to work in silence. 

The exercise took the better part of an hour, and when Loki had finished, he still wasn’t exactly sure what the point of it all was. However, Max insisted that they would put candles in them and set it all on the front porch, and he would see the traditions come to life. His future really was full of thrills. When all was said and done with the pumpkins, no one seemed to object when Loki told them he needed to do a bit of coursework in his room, and he drifted back toward it as the rest of them settled down on the couch. 

He could hear the television behind his closed door, but all he could really do was sit at this desk and stare at his textbooks. This mundane existence was starting to gnaw away at him more so than it had before, and he was beginning to wonder just when his punishment would come to an end. Even if it meant facing some sort of trial in Asgard, Loki would have taken it over sitting around being perfectly ordinary. It might have been acceptable for Max and her friends, but he wasn’t put in this universe to be an ordinary citizen without any power. Unfortunately, at this very moment, he couldn’t formulate enough of a plan to get him out of his predicament: negotiations with Ludwick were slow, he had almost no money, and he was probably hornier than he had been in quite some time. 

Did Thor ever experience this problem? Actually, that was probably why he found that little Jane woman while he was stuck on Earth… That had to cure something, at the very least. 

Some time had passed, and Loki suddenly heard a light tapping on his door. Moments later, Max poked her head in. 

“Hey,” she greeted as she slipped inside, a small bowl in her hands, “I brought you some pumpkin seeds…” She trailed off as she arched an eyebrow at his desk, currently scattered with unopened books, “Glad to see you’re working hard.”

“I’ve been thinking,” Loki told her flatly, eyebrows shooting up as she placed the bowl in front of him. “These look… slightly unappetizing, I’m afraid. I just… Knowing where they came from…”

“They taste awesome,” she remarked, hands on her hips as she stood next to him. “Eat one.”

“No.”

“I worked hard on them, so eat one,” she ordered playfully, poking his shoulder as he crossed his arms defiantly. 

Loki wanted to push her a little, just to see what she would do. As expected, she grabbed two seeds and brought them toward his face, but he ducked out of the way with ease, one hand coming up to nudge her aside. However, the woman certainly wasn’t easily deterred, and instead of stumbling back, she laughed and wrapped herself around him, the hand slipping around toward his face and shoving the two seeds in his mouth when he tried to protest. He snatched her wrist quickly before she could squirm away, and then gave the hard things in his mouth a thoughtful chew. 

A nod of approval followed – she had finally cooked something that wasn’t absolutely terrible, which was quite an accomplishment for this apartment. 

However, before he could stop himself, he leaned forward and nibbled on her thumb, quickly licking the salt from it in one sweep. He heard her breath hitch, which he found immensely satisfying, and proceeded to repeat his actions on the following two fingers. Max remained stock-still behind him, her head resting just over his shoulder. Once he finished, he turned his head slightly to the side, his voice low. 

“I think I have a preference,” he whispered, and he could literally feel the heat from her cheeks glowering against his. 

She was absolute putty in his palm. If he had really tried, Loki was sure he could have had her right now. 

“Max!” Tiffany called from the living room, which made both of them flinch out of their current position, “That commercial with the penguin is on again!”

Max tugged her hand away and left without another word, though he was sure she would pause and collect herself before rejoining her friends. 

Ugh, what was he doing? He rolled his eyes and shook his head, banishing those thoughts from his mind. Loki leaned forward and kicked the door closed gently with his foot, and then brought his head down to rest on the top of his textbook. 

His roommate may have been tempting, but that was dangerous territory he ought not to tread on just yet. She was his only real connection to this place, and the only thing that kept him thriving – Loki wasn’t about to tamper with that. 

He groaned noisily, and then shoved another pumpkin seed in his mouth. Perhaps it was time for a shower...


	16. The King and His Warrior Princess

Max had been on cloud nine for ages. 

Not only was it her favourite time of year, but she was fairly sure her roommate was actually into her. After all, she hadn’t been the one sucking salt off of his fingers after a day filled with flirting at the pumpkin patch – therefore, Max decided that he must have some sort of interest in her. Loki spent the rest of his night in his room, and she assumed then that the patch had been a bit overwhelming for him, and in all honesty, she preferred it. If he had rejoined the group, she wouldn’t have been able to function all that well. Ben and the rest of the gang were there until about midnight, flaked out in front of the TV munching on roasted pumpkin seeds and watching terrible television with her. When they finally left, Max crawled into bed and spent the better part of an hour analyzing everything that had happened between her and Loki that day, including the things she had said to Tiff. 

Was she lying to herself at this point to say that she had no real feelings for him? Was it just a physical reaction to an attractive guy flirting with her? What was it all supposed to mean? Would it be awkward the following morning – and the rest of the time they were living together? There had been a lot to consider at the time, and Max ended up falling asleep with Loki on the brain, which brought about another unfortunate sex dream involving him, a scarecrow, and stocks of corn.

Awkward. 

However, when the two of them came face to face the following morning over the kitchen island, there was no discomfort. In fact, they both carried on normally as though nothing had happened, and although Max ended up feeling a little disappointed, she quickly realized it was probably for the best. 

After all, who wants unnecessary drama with the person who is sharing one’s house? No one. No one needs to deal with issues or insecurities of someone else, and she couldn’t expect Loki to respond in any sort of way just because she had questions. Max wasn’t necessarily the most outgoing when it came to starting up romantic relationships with men, and normally she expected them to make the first move because she didn’t want to make an idiot of herself. Better him than her, she always thought. Besides, Loki seemed like the type of guy who would have done something just to get a rise out of people, so maybe he had done it to see her reaction. 

Whatever his intentions might have been, Max forced herself to ignore the incident and carry on, business as usual, into the following weeks. There were a lot of assignments due for just about everyone, graduate and undergraduates alike, and she breezed through two midterms in the span of a week. Stress was at an all-time high, but she usually calmed down after spending a night sprawled out on the couch having a laugh with her roommate over whatever might be on the TV, or something comical that happened at work. Loki seemed to be getting into a groove with school and the bookstore, though he had to work a little less in order to keep up with his assignments and studying for midterms. As far as she was aware, he had made a small dent in his debt to the bank, but he was far from out of the hole he had already dug himself. It seemed work was definitely a huge necessity for the man, but he had yet to seem too fazed by it. 

Like every other person at St. Judith’s, Max and Loki endured their midterms, scrambled to finish assignments, and breathed a collective sigh of relief when it all came to an end. With those out of the way, they would be safe until the winter exams, which were really only a month and a half away – a chance to get your head above water before plunging straight back in. With everything finished for now, Max was extra excited for their Halloween plans, which were only a few days away. 

On the night of the pumpkin patch visit, Tiffany had asked if they could host the Halloween pre-drink at Max’s apartment. Ben’s house had gotten some noise complaints from the last party, and they really just needed a place that was a straight walk down to the bars to drink at before celebrating downtown. After consulting with her roommate, Max agreed to host the pre-drink with the stipulations that they had to be out of the apartment by eleven thirty, or they were bound to get a complaint from the elderly couple who lived upstairs. 

They were lucky that Halloween fell on a Friday this year, and Max forced Loki to book it off from work so that he could join in the festivities. He didn’t seem especially keen to partake in another party, but she insisted that this was a pre-drink, not a party. People would show up, get the majority of their drinking done, nibble on some snacks, and then head downtown. It wasn’t the place to be – no one had to attend a pre-drink in order to have a good time down at the bars with everyone. Tiffany had invited a few people that they all knew would be there, and then extended the offer to some of their friends on the outer circle who were welcome to drop by for a little while if they felt so inclined. This wasn’t going to be a big deal. 

However, the only other stipulation that Tiffany and Max decided on was that everyone had to be there in costume. They didn’t need to be elaborate sorts of outfits that cost way too much for one night of use, but if they wanted to get into her apartment, they needed to be in some sort of noticeable costume. Obviously Loki did not have a costume of his own, so Max had the dubious honour of taking him shopping for one a few days before Halloween. She knew they ought to have gone earlier in the month, as all the good costumes were bound to be sold out, but she had an idea for him that did not necessarily require a pre-made costume in a bag. 

So, Max ended up picking Loki up on campus after his media lecture, and the two of them zoomed off in her slightly messy car toward the costume shop at the other side of town. It was usually only open for two months of the year, and the rest of the time it was a dollar store. 

“So… Everyone dresses up on this night?” Loki clarified as they pulled into the parking lot. She glanced toward him and saw him wrinkle his nose at the excessive amount of balloons outside the party store. “I still don’t understand it.”

“Well, the dressing up used to be so that you could scare the dead away,” Max assumed, seeing as almost everything that people did for Halloween revolved around keeping the rising dead at bay, “but now it’s sort of just a tradition that kids do… We go door to door trick-or-treating for candy from the neighbours.”

“Why?”

“Okay, I can’t explain every single custom we do,” Max laughed when she turned the car off, shooting him a look as she grabbed for her purse in the backseat. “We do it, we’ve always done it, and it’s fun. Now that we’re older, we get dressed up because we’re nostalgic, but get plastered because we’re legal. Sound good?”

“We’ll see,” she heard him grumble.

“Stop moping,” she ordered playfully, giving his arm a light punch as she pulled back. His charming grin took away the seriousness from his face, and she rolled her eyes a little.

It was still difficult to tell when he was playing with her and when he was actually annoyed with something. However, his surly attitude hadn’t been present for long, and as he strolled alongside her, hands in his pockets and eyes on the garish store looming ahead, Max figured the attitude was mostly for show. After all, what kind of guy actually enjoyed shopping, even if it was for a costume?

Once inside, she grabbed a small shopping cart, and then honed in on the men’s section of the store. She wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted to be yet, but she had decided on Loki’s costume a long time ago, and she was keen to see her vision come to life. 

“You’ve yet to fill me in on your ideas for my… costume,” Loki told her as he sauntered along after her, hands clasped behind his back, eyes roving the aisles of costume bags. 

“Okay, so I don’t know how much you remember from our first night of heavy drinking,” Max started, pausing in front of a set of bright red capes. 

“It’s a bit of a haze.”

“Right, well, I remember somebody saying he wanted to be a king when he grows up,” she laughed, crouching down and retrieving a plastic golden crown from a pile. “So, we’re making you a king for Halloween.”

His eyes narrowed a little at her as she stood up on the tips of her toes to place the plastic crown on his head, and she grinned up at him happily. Their bodies were close, closer than a platonic friendship would allow, but for the first time she hadn’t started blushing. It probably had to do with the fact that she suspected there was some reciprocal attraction on his end – he did crack a bit of a smile in return, after all, before placing himself in front of a nearby mirror. 

“No.”

“Why not?” she whined, bouncing over to his side and smirking at him. “We’ll make you all regal and shit.”

“Your eloquence is reassuring,” he droned, head cocked to the side as he stared at his crown, “but I think not.”

“Well, I mean, we could put you in…” she trailed off as she looked around at the costumes nearby, and then grabbed one off of the shelf, “A cow suit? I think it would be big enough to fit… Who doesn’t want udders?”

“This is ridiculous,” he scoffed, snatching the crown off his head and shoving it back into her hands. “I’m not doing this.” 

“Come on, be a good sport,” Max pushed. “How about this? I will try on any costume in this store if you let me put together a king’s costume.”

His eyebrows shot up, and the tension in his voice seemed to lessen, “Any costume?”

Max cleared her throat, realizing that might have put herself in a stupid situation. However, if he took the bargain, she could dress him up however she wanted, put a crown on his head, and then call him a king. So, she nodded, “Any costume.”

“Deal.”

They shook hands quickly, and then set off in opposite directions to have a look through the store. He actually seemed more pleased with the bargain than she had anticipated, which made her a little worried. 

It actually wasn’t very difficult to find Loki’s costume; the big items that made the look were all sold separately, and she was sure he would have a black pair of pants to wear with it. First came the crown, which was bedazzled with green and blue plastic gems. Next, she found a red coat that looked regal enough to be a king’s garment, but then quickly found another one shortly after with puffy sleeves and a gold trim, and opted for the slightly more expensive one in order to add realism. From there, she snatched up a white silk shirt with a deep V in the front, one that he would have to lace up, and then perused the super tacky jewelry section to jazz up the whole look. Once she had picked out several gaudy rings and a kingly necklace, she sauntered toward the back of the store where they held the dressing rooms, and then waited for Loki to find her. 

When he did finally show up about ten minutes later, he had her costume behind his back, and there was a hugely suspicious bounce in his step that only spelled trouble for her. She cocked her head to the side, trying to see around him, and then placed a hand on her hip. 

“What the Hell did you find?”

“Is Halloween a time for all women to dress like whores?” Loki inquired nonchalantly, “Because everything I saw suggests that…”

She took a deep breath, ready to launch into some speech about how not every woman out there threw on a pair of animal ears to jazz up lingerie, and then rolled her eyes, “Yes, we use it as an excuse to dress a little slutty… It’s socially acceptable at this point.”

Everyone knew the majority of women used Halloween as a chance to show off a little more skin, because when else were they going to without being called a slag? Max had done the slutty costume thing three times in her life: the first time was in high school when she went as a trashy Hogwarts student, the second was her first year of university when she wore a skin-tight black outfit to go as a cat, and the third was when she was dating her previous boyfriend – she was the slutty nurse and he the perverted doctor. Otherwise, the rest of her Halloween years had been interspersed with all sorts of costumes, ranging from extremely modest to extremely out there, and everything in between. Normally she put a lot more work into her costumes, but this year and the previous one had left her too busy, and she had to resort to purchasing something pre-made from the party store. 

“I think I might like Halloween better than I anticipated,” Loki chuckled, and then held out the costume he had chosen for her. Max felt her cheeks redden as she snatched it out of his hands. 

“What is this?”

“Apparently,” he leaned a little closer, reading the label, “it’s a Sexy Viking Warrior Princess costume. I think the fur goes with your eyes.”

“You’re a dick.” She studied the image on the front of the bag, and then shook her head. “I’m not wearing this.”

“It was actually one of the more conservative options. I was thinking of you, Max.”

“I’m not wearing this,” she repeated, staring at the image with mild disgust. There was no way this thing was going to look good on her, and a fairly big part of Halloween for her had always been about looking awesome in her costume. 

“Ah, but you said any costume,” Loki argued, holding up a finger to protest her whining. “If you won’t try it on, I won’t wear your…” He leaned closer, “Is that what you think a king wears?”

“My costume is awesome, shut up,” she snapped. “I do not have the boobs for this dress!”

The woman in the picture seemed to have a chest that defied gravity, pushing itself out of the deep V neckline that plunged into a fake corset. 

“How do you know until you try it on?” Loki trilled, stepping around her and gathering the various pieces of his kingly outfit from the shopping cart. “We’ll do this together… Come along, Max.”

She swore at him beneath her breath, which made him chuckle as he locked himself into one of the change rooms. Max gripped the thick plastic costume bag tightly as she stalked into the small room across from him, and then stared at the picture for a moment. Maybe she could pretend she tried it on, and it didn’t fit, so he wouldn’t need to see it. She glanced at the sizing, and then realized it was a one-size fits all type of deal – apparently sexy Viking princesses wore stretchy clothing. Lips pursed, she sighed noisily as she began to shed her outer layers of clothing. 

Standing there in her bra and underwear, she glared at the smiling busy blonde on the bag, and then finally dragged the outfit out to examine. It was definitely short; the skirt was a V shaped thing, longer at the front and back then at the sides, and a supposed fitted corset sat above it. There was a fur trim on the short-sleeved shoulders, along with a pair of fur knee-high boot things that looked absolutely ridiculous. Finally, as the crème of the crop that this costume was, there was a furry hat with a pair of horns that stuck out on either side. At first, Max just wanted to laugh, but she also knew that Loki was putting in some sort of effort on his side, so she ought to do the same. 

So, she slipped into the outfit, and she was surprised how fitted the material was considering it was supposed to fit all sizes. Maybe it fit all sizes, but it didn’t fit them well. As she suspected, however, her boobs were not quite big enough to make much of an impact in the tan coloured top of the outfit, but it wasn’t as terrible as she expected. It was definitely short though, showing off a lot of leg, and she suddenly recalled Loki’s response to the This or That game about what sort of guy he was – a legs man. 

She bit her lip to keep from smiling too much. 

“Max,” she heard Loki laugh, “this is atrocious.”

“Yeah, well, yours isn’t much better,” she snapped, smoothing her hands down the faux-fur on her shoulders. She plopped the hat on her head, her brown hair hanging loose around her shoulders, and then braced herself. “Are you ready to show?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

“My thoughts exactly,” she muttered. His door unlocked noisily across from her, and Max decided she could get away with just poking her head out for now. Her eyes lit up when she saw Loki saunter out – he actually looked ridiculously attractive, and she eyed him appreciatively as he placed himself in front of the mirror. The look wasn’t exactly complete, as he was wearing a pair of jeans instead of the black trousers, but she could see the essence of it. 

“This is not what a king wears,” Loki told her. “You didn’t even find me a weapon.”

“We’ll get one after,” she insisted. “That’s nothing… I saw some swords and stuff at the front. Does it all fit?”

“Unfortunately,” he sighed as he ran his hands down the front of the plush red coat. 

“You aren’t wearing any of the rings!” Max realized. “We need the full effect!”

“This is quite enough for today,” Loki remarked. “I’ll wear everything you desire on the night.”

“So you’re going to go with it?” she asked happily, pleased that she had managed to change his mind.

“Only if you wear my pick,” he told her quickly, pulling at the door. “Let me see.”

Max begrudgingly stepped out, and then folded her arms across her chest as he appraised her. However, she felt moderately better when his eyes lingered at the hemline of her skirt. 

“That hat is too much.”

“Oh, you think?” she scoffed, booting him aside with her hips as she stood in front of the mirror. “I think it’s just darling. I’m sure every Viking had one in their… hut.”

“Sarcasm is the lowest form of humour—”

“You read that in the paper this morning,” she chirped, shooting him a look in the mirror. 

“Well, I think it’s quite…” He trailed off, eyes traveling down her backside. “It’s quite nice.”

“Quite nice?” she repeated, finally dropping her arms to reveal her chest. “I need padding, or something.”

“No, no,” he insisted, reaching around her and suddenly cupping his hands just beneath her breasts. “You just need to… push them up a little.”

She stiffened a little as he pushed them upward, filling out the dress a tad better in the process. He smirked at her in the mirror, and she knew he was enjoying himself. So, she smacked his hands away and stepped forward, turning back to face him with her hands on her hips.

“Fine,” she snapped, unable to keep from grinning at him, “I’ll get it. You’re buying it though.”

“That’s fair, seeing as you are purchasing this set of ridiculousness,” Loki mused. He managed to dodge her when she took off the hat and tried to poke his side with one of white horns. 

Once they were changed, they perused the containers with plastic weapons together, and in the end chose a rather long sword for Loki and a slightly unwieldy axe for Max. From there, it was off to the check-out counter to buy their costumes for one another. Loki’s was a little more expensive than hers, but she figured it would be with the lined red coat racking up the big bucks. With all that sorted, they collectively decided to pick up a pizza for dinner on the way home, as Loki needed to be back on campus to work in two hours, and neither felt like cooking. 

“Oh my god, hey guys!”

Max cringed a little as a familiar voice cut across the parking lot at them, and she watched Erica bounce over from her group of friends to greet the duo at Max’s car. 

“Hey Erica,” Max sighed, hoping that her lack of enthusiasm wasn’t completely obvious. “How are you?”

“Oh, you know, same old,” the woman replied with a shrug. “Did you guys do some shopping?”

She eyed the bags curiously, and Loki simply stared back at her. 

“Yeah,” Max said finally after a moment of silence. “Yeah, we just grabbed our costumes. I’m a Viking this year…”

“Oh, fun!” Erica laughed. “And what you about, Loki? What can I expect to see you as Friday night?”

“I’m a king, actually,” Loki remarked, holding his bag protectively at his side. “Very exciting, and all that.”

“What a fitting costume,” Erica told him, and Max rolled her eyes when Loki smirked a little. “I think royalty suits you.”

“Oh?”

“And what are you for Halloween?” Max asked before Erica could completely exclude her from the conversation. 

“That’s a surprise,” she told Max, tucking a piece of hair behind her ears, “but all I can say is that it’s heavenly. I’m picking up the finishing touches today.”

“Are you an angel?”

“Most days, yeah,” she laughed, shooting Loki a wink. “I’ll see you guys Friday night!”

Vomit. Max waved farewell, and then rolled her eyes again, “She’s so cryptic… ‘Heavenly’? Clearly an angel.” 

“Walk it off, sport,” Loki told her in the false American accent he had been working on for some stupid reason most of the week. 

It may have sounded awful, but it always made her laugh, and she grinned cheekily at him as they strolled back to the car. Once inside, they launched immediately into a conversation about what sorts of toppings they wanted on their pizza, Erica completely forgotten.


	17. 1 Tequila, 2 Tequila, 3 Tequila, Whore

“I can’t believe you wouldn’t bring this straight to me, Stark—”

“Really?” Tony inquired lightly, eyebrows shooting up as he eyed the highly unimpressed S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in front of him. “This is a surprise to you?”

The man glared at him, and he heard Pepper murmur his name softly from the couch to his left. Seriously, what was it with Fury’s agents? Couldn’t they understand that the private quarters of the nearly destroyed Stark Tower was just that – private? First Coulson had come bumbling through, overriding security procedures and inviting him to take place in an event that would forever shape Iron Man’s place in world history. Now, his replacement, known only as Agent 22, had actually managed to temporarily disable Jarvis and stroll through the lobby unmonitored, and eventually ended up interrupting his evening with Pepper once again. If they were nothing else, S.H.I.E.L.D. field agents definitely knew how to mess up a guy’s good time with his gal. 

Tony quickly decided that he would have much rather had Phil Coulson saunter out the elevator than the asshole who had replaced him. He had only heard of Agent 22 through the company grapevine, but he was apparently ex-military with highly superior fighting skills, but clearly lacked the candour required to carry his position as Fury’s number two. Or number three. Where did Agent Hill fit in with all this? Regardless, he seemed instantly ill-suited for the job, and was clearly less than impressed to be making house calls. 

Well, Tony shared the sentiment, asshole. Here he was, celebrating the fact that his tower now had its roof fully restored, which was supposed to be a quiet night in with his girl and a bottle of red. He definitely wasn’t in the mood to deal with surly agents who were clearly so far up their own ass that they couldn’t think straight. 

“How long have you been tracking the warlord?”

“Don’t talk like that,” Tony told him, arms folding across his chest as he stared down his nose at the burly beefcake in front of him. “You’re not one of them… Loki is just another guy who broke the law. Mind you, it was pretty severe—”

“Manhattan is still mostly in rubble.”

“Well, that’s a fairly poor statement, but I guess I can see your thought train,” he droned. Clearly Agent 22 hadn’t walked more than six feet from his building, because most of Manhattan was fixed at this point. “He’s a criminal. Don’t glorify the guy into making him more than he is.”

“Don’t downplay the seriousness of this situation, Stark,” the agent ordered gruffly. He then lifted the file that had been tucked under his arm and scanned it, “Now, according to the information we received from Banner—”

“Bruce told you?” he asked, eyebrows shooting up once more, “No, Bruce wouldn’t have told you… Did you bug his apartment again?” 

The man shot him another annoyed look, and Tony smirked a little. 

“The warlord Loki has been in Vermont attending a community college,” Agent 22 recited, “and both you and Banner have completed surveillance, yet you haven’t discussed it with Fury.”

“Speaking of Fury, why isn’t he making this house call?” Tony asked curiously, ignoring the way Pepper sighed at his contempt. “I feel like we’d both be happier if Fury was here instead of you.”

“Why didn’t you bring Loki’s presence to our attention immediately?”

“Because we can handle him,” Tony said with a sigh. “His big brother… the other Norse god? Yeah, we’re pretty good pals at this point… We’ve even done the drinks and bowling thing together, me, Pepper, him and his lady friend. So I assumed bringing Loki’s presence to him would have been better than if we notified you.”

“Oh? And how did that go for you?”

“Thor was already aware that Loki was on Earth,” he told the man. “He’s apparently stripped of his powers as punishment for… playing rough with Manhattan.”

The agent remained stoic, clearly unimpressed with Tony’s reasoning, and he merely shrugged in response. 

“Look, it seemed like a family thing,” he continued. “When Bruce and I saw that he wasn’t doing anything other than going to class, we backed off. We’ve still got surveillance in town, and we’ve gone into his roommate’s computer for extra insurance.”

“Is his roommate someone we should be aware of?”

“No, she’s a nobody,” Tony insisted, eager to keep innocent civilians out of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s grasp, “just an average college kid who is in some museum program. She’s got a brother in the army though.”

“Do you think there’s a connection?”

“No, not that we saw,” he continued. “It seems more random than anything.”

“Give me the name of the town,” the agent demanded, pulling out a pen and arching an eyebrow expectantly. 

“No.”

“Stark, don’t bullshit around with me on this.”

“No, here’s where I draw the line with bullshit,” Tony started, eyes narrowing as he took a step toward the taller gentleman in the cheap suit. “You come into my home, place illegal surveillance in my friend’s apartment, and make demands that are not your call to make. If Fury really wants to know the basics on Loki, he can take it up with his brother. I’m keeping an eye on it, and I can be out there in ten minutes if the guy throws a tantrum.”

“He’s a deceptive god—”

“There’s a ten dollar word.”

“—and the fact that you believe whatever his brother says shows me just how deluded you’ve become. Thor may have helped us with one incident, but he is still responsible for destroying an entire town and bringing Loki’s madness here in the first place.”

Tony scoffed noisily, and then pointed back toward the elevator. “Get out of my tower, or I’ll put on the suit.”

“I’d like to see that.”

“I can get the police here in a matter of minutes,” Pepper said suddenly. “Don’t think we aren’t above pressing charges for trespassing. You can use your one phone call to hope Fury will come post bail.”

“If he even answers the phone,” Tony added. “He’s a hard man to get in touch with when you want him… or so I’ve heard. I don’t know, we’ve never met officially.”

The man ground his jaw together noisily, and then stalked back to the elevator without another word. However, despite the fact he had given in easily today, Tony was fairly sure this wasn’t going to be the last time they saw him or his cronies lurking around. Once the elevator doors shut, he glanced back at Pepper, who was taking a sip of her red wine. He held a finger to his lips, slipping into his own thoughts, until he finally heard her speak softly once more. 

“I think it’s time we get Banner back into his room here,” she told him. Tony nodded; he couldn’t agree more.

* * *

Loki had decided very quickly that he actually really liked this Halloween holiday. It might have all been a bit of fun for Max and her friends now, but he could easily appreciate the dark undertones and the history that surrounded it. He liked the idea of the dead coming back to life, as though brought up by a necromancer for one night of horror and fun, and then the notion that these little humans adorn themselves in costumes to frighten them away. 

Pah! As though the dead could be frightened by what modern humans wore – Max might have been a warrior, but he was fairly sure any creature, dead or alive, would rather bend her over the table than engage in a serious form of combat with her. There were other aspects to the tradition that he found entertaining. He was eager to see little children dashing from door to door, demanding candy lest the occupants face getting tricked. It was actually right up his alley, and if he hadn’t been preoccupied with Max’s festivities, he would have liked to watch the mayhem ensue in the residential areas of the town. 

However, he was slated to spend the evening with Max and her friends, and that was what he intended to do. After all, the woman was bouncing around the house all day, giddy with excitement, and he was sure he would have popped her bubble quite severely if he wasn’t in attendance. So, although it had been a wordless promise, Loki dragged himself out of his room after a brief nap in the late afternoon, and then begrudgingly helped put candy and chips out into bowls around the kitchen island. Max had also stopped somewhere that afternoon to pick up a plethora of alcohol. Some of the bottles were given to Loki, as she had noticed he was out, some went directly to her, and the remainder were to be shared among guests who did not bring their own that night. Quite the courteous hostess, Max was, and Loki was a tad eager to see what a “pre-drink” entailed. If it was anything like the party at Ben’s, it was going to be loud, crowded, and a little rowdy. 

Loki had been in this little town for just over two months at this point, and if he had been antsy about leaving back in September, he was definitely eager to regain his powers now. He had been playing by the rules thus far; he worked a job to serve lowly mortals their textbooks, studied under intellectuals who would have paled in comparison to him in any other circumstance, and made a real effort to try to connect with simpletons who were supposedly in his age group. Hadn’t the All-father seen the work he put in? Hadn’t Odin been paying the slightest bit of attention to the fact that Loki was out working at a terrible job almost six nights of the week in order to pay back a debt on a planet that was only his temporary host? At this point, he wasn’t really sure what else he could do, nor was he sure just how long Odin planned to make him suffer, but it was getting a little excessive. Thor certainly hadn’t been on Earth this long! 

Now, it wasn’t all terrible. He was actually interested in Ludwick’s subject matter, almost as much as he was keen on impressing the man himself. After all, it taught him a great deal about the planet he had wanted to shatter, which, in its own way, was useful. Perhaps he would come back sometime in the future, years and years from now, to try to snatch the planet up. When all of Thor’s heroes were dead and the world was at a different place in its cycle, Loki could try again to make it his. Thor would still be around, and his lust for a kingly position would surely remain. 

Kingly position… What a joke this night was as he sat on a large chair that Tiffany had brought over, dressed in a king’s attire. He wasn’t really sure which king dressed like this, all bejeweled and glittery, but Loki assumed this must be a caricature of a human king. He appreciated Max telling him that the crown suited him, and she surely had no idea what those words meant to him on a much more profound level. One day he would be king once more, the crown and throne he deserved at his feet, and he would remember Max’s words about how he had a head shaped for a crown. 

Ah, Max. He wasn’t really sure what he was doing with her, but he blamed his human body and its hormones entirely for the shameless way he had been acting. Yes, he did enjoy making her blush, and on some level it brought about a deep satisfaction that there was this woman here who had such obvious attraction for him. Here she was, interested in him, and he wasn’t even at his full capabilities – she seemed to adore him in his weakness, which was a strange thought. How would she see him if he was fully restored to his original state? Max would probably melt. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t just Max who felt curdles of desire in the pit of her stomach. Loki’s need to copulate with just about anyone at this point had reached critical levels, and it was fairly difficult to stay focused while he and Max got into their costumes before the arrival of her friends. The legs, the waist, the breasts… Everything on her was a distraction, and the fact that she wanted him only made the need grow stronger. There was nothing more appealing than interacting with someone who was obviously in a state of attraction toward him; it was an infrequent occurrence on Asgard, particularly when he was always compared to Thor, and it was even more difficult to resist here on Midgard. 

Mind you, there were a lot of women here that he found difficult to resist. As Max’s friends filtered in and out for the pre-drink, Loki was amazed at how much female flesh he saw. Max had hinted that it was a night for most women to drop their inhibitions, to be free in the guise of another, but he hadn’t expected to see so many of them in barely-there costumes and skin-tight suits. He couldn’t have been the only one who appreciated the show, and he felt some form of relief when he studied the eyes of the other men circulating the party: most of them ended up fixating on the same bits and pieces that caught Loki’s attention. They all seemed to handle themselves better than Loki, mind you, but that was probably because they had more experience dealing with half-dressed women on October 31st – clearly more experience than Loki, to say the least. He worked very hard to keep his gaze at eyelevel, and his hands were always either in a chip bowl or wrapped around a bottle of alcohol.

He certainly did not want to make a fool of himself, but the urges were telling. The more these women had to drink, the looser they seemed to feel, and Loki couldn’t help but bite his inner cheek – hard – when he spotted Max laughing and grinding her hips into Tiffany’s across the room, moving to the beat of some obnoxious tone emanating from her music player. It all seemed to be for fun, naturally, but Loki decided that the sexual nature of this night did nothing to help his desires. So, after finishing what might have been his third or fourth beer in under an hour, he drifted back to the bathroom in order to recuperate. 

The apartment had guests scattered everywhere, dominating the small space in a way he hadn’t ever seen it used before. Although Max and Loki had the good sense to lock their rooms, Loki still had to step around and over a couple dressed in neon colours – who had earlier proclaimed to be highlighters – as they groped one another up against Max’s door. Once inside the bathroom, Loki bolted the door and then leaned down against the white porcelain sink, glaring at his reflection in the mirror. He looked like a joke. His lip twitched as he tore the crown from his head and hurled the plastic piece into the shower, glaring as it clattered noisily in the tub. He forced himself to take a deep breath; tonight was supposed to be a bit of fun, a way to relieve oneself from the ridiculousness of the college experience. So, although it would have been easier to succumb to anger, Loki pushed through. He washed his face quickly, and then smoothed his hair down in order to make room for his crown once more. 

When he returned to the main attraction, Loki found that several of the previous guests he had seen before had left, only to be replaced by newcomers. He lingered around a chip bowl for quite some time, striking up a conversation with Ben about Norse mythology after Loki made a casual comment regarding Max’s costume. 

“She looks lovely tonight, doesn’t she?” Loki had said, gesturing across the room toward Max as Garret twirled her in a circle. 

Ben’s face had gone bright red, and he coughed a little into his drink as he nodded. 

“Yeah,” he muttered. “Really good. It’s not what I expected at all.”

“Well, that’s half the fun, isn’t it?” Loki had mused at him, grinning as Ben had tried very hard not to stare at his roommate’s legs. 

“I guess so.”

He still got a kick out of watching the man squirm about for his roommate’s attention, and he was sure Ben found it equally difficult to focus on much else whenever Max flounced over to grab another drink. Loki loved it. Ben had become his unofficial target ever since he was aware of the man’s feelings for Max, and he got a huge kick out of watching him hem and haw over how to word things regarding her costume. Loki wasn’t particularly sure what Ben was – he had said his house and their girlfriends dressed up like the cast of Futurama, but he couldn’t quite place the television show in his memory. Ben was wearing a bald cap, a thick set of glasses, and then a white lab coat, all of which seemed oddly suited to his personality. 

They eventually reached their inevitable stalemate in the conversation, a point that usually came up when Ben ran out of things to blabber about, and Loki had no more interest in speaking to him, and from there Loki drifted off to another bowl of food. He was on to what might have been his sixth or seventh beer at this point, and quickly decided that he preferred the ale to that clear disaster in a bottle that he and Max had chugged on their first night together. Although it had a pungent aftertaste, he decided it went down much easier than anything else he had been forced to drink. From now on, beer was his drink of choice. It had a mild effect on him, making his face tingle and the tips of his fingers numb, but he wasn’t nearly as incoherent as those drinking the stronger scented drinks around him.

However, he was influenced enough to seriously consider making a move on Max tonight. Although she wasn’t dressed in a way indicative of the people who worshipped him eons ago, there was a small part of him that appreciated the sentiment regardless. Besides, she was wearing something he had chosen for her, and whenever she glanced back in his direction, despite chatting with other men, Loki felt a satisfied smirk touch his lips. 

Unfortunately, he was definitely aware of the complications that would arise should he bother to pursue Max; there was a chance things might go so sourly that she banished him from the apartment, and he would be forced to spend what little money he made on hotel fares while simultaneously trying to sort his life out. No, she might have been fun for a night, perhaps more, but he preferred her friendship and support to any of the messy complications that might arise should he act on his feelings tonight. 

So, two steps in her direction quickly turned into four steps away from her, and he took a seat on an unused section of the sofa, downing the rest of his beer in one go. He sighed noisily, and then shut his eyes as he listened to the hum of music pounding around him. Music was so very telling of the values of this generation; everything was about love, sex, relationships, and betrayals. Naturally, it was all dramatized for value, but he thought it very interesting to hear the lyrics, no matter how repetitive, in order to further understand the people around him. 

Suddenly, he felt his empty bottle leave his loosely clasped hands, only to be replaced by a cold one seconds later. His eyes opened quickly, and he glanced up to see a curvaceous Erica seated on the armrest next to him. 

“You looked like you were running a little low on fuel, your highness,” she told him, her arm sliding across the back of the couch as she leaned forward, head cocked to the side. “I thought I should fix that.”

“Thank you,” Loki murmured, toasting her with his bottle. “That was so very thoughtful.”

“I’m not an angel for nothing.” She giggled, gesturing down at the tight white dress hugging her ample curves. There was a curve bursting in his face at that very moment, and he swallowed hard, trying his very best to ignore them and not stare blatantly. 

Oh, the woman was perfectly aware of what she was doing. Max had a distinct disliking for this Erica character, and Loki could understand why. It was very plain that the woman wanted to compete for Loki’s attention, as though he were a prize to be won from Max, and always went out of her way to throw a jibe at Max while simultaneously complimenting Loki. She reminded him very much of Lorelei on Asgard; the goddess was a supreme flirt, and bounced around amongst other Asgardians on a whim, keen and willing to slake her lust wherever she saw fit. Even Loki had known the pleasure of her company, which was certainly saying something. Erica was nowhere near on par with Lorelei, but her game definitely wasn’t all that different. She pursued Loki because it was obvious that someone else wanted him. He saw the look in her eye: lust, a feeling he had come to grapple with on a daily basis. 

“When did you get here?” Loki inquired, knowing full well that Max hadn’t seen her or wasn’t in the room, because there was no way the woman would have left him alone with the temptress. 

“Oh, only a few minutes ago,” she purred, her breath pungent with the scent of alcohol, “but I had to find you right away.”

“Of course you did.” Loki chuckled as he did a quick sweep of the area around in, searching for Max. Surely she hadn’t invited Erica or any of her friends to this little party…

“Hey, is there somewhere we can talk privately?” he heard her murmur in his ear. He quickly turned to face her, the woman’s eyes meeting his, and she shrugged. “It’s sort of loud out here.”

“Yes, yes it is,” he acknowledged, the look of need, desire, and desperation difficult to ignore on her face. “I have a room we could speak in.”

“Good,” she giggled, standing up and grasping his hand, tugging him along after her, “I just wanted to talk to you about something. It’ll be quick, I promise.” 

Ha. He had a sinking suspicion anything that she wanted to do behind a closed door wasn’t going to be quick, but at this point, he let that sickeningly human side of him take over. Perhaps when this was over, he might actually be able to concentrate on a conversation with Max without wondering what she would feel like beneath him, or sound like whimpering for him in the heat of a moment, her back arched, breasts pressed to his chest as she urged him onward…

He blinked the fantasy away, clearing his throat as he followed Erica through a cluster of people. 

Loki glanced at her door when he passed it quickly, and caught her in the small crack where it had been left open. He saw her texting on her mobile device, mouthing along to the song blasting from the living room and swaying, clearly drunk. Erica tugged at him when he hesitated, but he eventually conceded, and shut the door to his room softly behind him.

* * *

“Nooo, Paaaat,” Max trilled into her phone, “I won’t do scary movies with anyone but yoooou!”

Good god, where had all the sober gone? Max had been fairly plastered since sometime in the early evening, and it seemed there was no stopping her at this point. This was the first time in nearly a month and a half since she had been this drunk, and she justified it briefly earlier in the night by insisting that it was Halloween, and therefore acceptable to let loose. 

Tiffany and Garret turned up around six that evening to help her set things up, and she was actually pretty surprised that Loki had been as hands-on as he was. Along with setting up the food and drink sections of the kitchen island, he had even helped Garret lug an extra chair in from the parking lot that had been donated for people’s sitting pleasure that evening. 

With that all sorted, the couple popped back to Ben’s in order to get ready, and Max spent an hour or so with Loki getting into costume. At this point, she had accepted that it was going to be another year where she was a provocative cliché, and endured her ridiculous Viking costume with grace. Hell, she even braided her hair and spoke with some terrible Norwegian accent for as long as Loki could tolerate her – which was helped along by her first drink for the evening while doing make-up. The focus then shifted on to Loki, and while she was able to get him to slick his hair back and wear every piece of jewellery she bought for him, he drew the line at her suggestion to add make-up. 

All she wanted to do was add a little smoky eyeliner for affect… Geez.

Regardless of Loki’s intolerance for make-up, he acted like such a good sport regardless, and they ended up having a fantastic evening together before everyone arrived. As far as she was concerned, almost everything he did indicated that he was interested in her. He flirted, touched, teased, laughed in all the right ways, and she would have had to be an idiot not to realize what was happening. Naturally, Max didn’t say anything, nor did she behave any differently than she normally would. She wasn’t all that good at making the first move, even if she was a bit of a flirt, so at this point the ball was in Loki’s court; if he made a move, say, tonight, Max would hardly make any objections.

Of course she might protest a little at first, she decided as people started to arrive for the pre-drink, but only enough to make him squirm a little, and then she would throw herself wholeheartedly into the act. Yum. Actually, that was probably the booze talking, but fuck it. She was physically attracted to her roommate, and she was lucky enough that he happened to be a cool guy. A great guy. A fantastic- Okay, whatever, he was nice guy. Whatever. Don’t make a big deal out of it. 

Although there had been a few members of the outer friendship circle to arrive first, Max was able to make pointless conversation about safe subjects until Tiffany returned with her troupe of boys from Ben’s house. They had all worked together and come as the cast of Futurama – Garret as Fry, Tiffany as Leela, Ben as Professor Farnsworth, and Corey as Bender – and even though it took a little bit of imagination to see where some of them were coming from, she thought they did such a great job. As a reward, she gave them one of her bottles of alcohol, free of charge, as winners of the costume contest for her heart. From there, it went straight downhill as far as sobriety went. Tiffany was a pro at peer-pressuring her friends into taking more shots than they needed to; she had such an infectious laugh and zest for life that it was hard to even consider being a downer by turning down her offers to drink. 

She wasn’t really sure how many people were going to swing by that night, but in all honesty, she didn’t really care. They were going to be out of there by eleven-thirty, which meant people could come and go as they pleased up until that point, and then the apartment was going to be silent. She had gone around and warned the people beside her and above her that they would be having a party, that it might get a little noisy between eight and eleven-thirty, and then they were out of there not one minute later. The neighbours to the side were also students, and were drinking somewhere else for the evening, but appreciated the invite all the same. The older couple above seemed less than thrilled at the prospect, but they also knew she wasn’t as disrespectful as some students could be, and told her they understood the impending noise, so long as it ended at a reasonable hour. 

No noise complaints or fines for her, thank you very much!

Drinks, music, laughter, chips, and oodles of candy were the general patterns for her night. Every so often, she would look for Loki through the mass of people, and she would find him chatting with someone, sipping his beer, or grazing over a bowl of chips. He seemed more comfortable than she had anticipated, and she actually felt little to no stress at spending more time that night with her small cluster of close friends instead of babysitting him. She also managed to keep her distance respectful because even her drunk brain was quite aware that she might pounce on him in front of everyone, and while it would have been fun for her, it would have been a bit embarrassing to talk about it the next day. Guhh. 

At around eleven that night, people slowly began filtering out to make the cold trek down to the bars without their jackets. Well, okay, the girls did it because they wanted their costumes noticed – or they were too drunk to feel the chill of the near-November air – and the guys layered up because they weren’t held to the same standards as their female counterparts. At this point, she was on her second tequila shot with Ben, who was actually pretty relaxed when he was plastered. His household lingered, waiting for Max and Loki to lock up so that they could all make the trip to their bars together. Aside from them, there was a drunk girl sitting by Max’s front door, her friends squawking about calling for a taxi, and then a couple who she didn’t know groping one another on her couch. Otherwise, they were doing pretty good for time. 

A phone call had dragged her off to her room – a celebratory drunk call from Pat in New York – and she was thrilled to hear her voice. 

“You should watch movies with Loki,” her best friend purred into the phone. Max heard music pumping in the background, followed by a sudden bout of laughter, and she smiled at the thought of Pat having an awesome evening, just like she was. 

“Maybe after the bar—”

“After you _do_ it!”

Max snorted loudly, and then glanced at his closed door from the safety of her room. 

“I dunno, Pat, I… I… I’m wearing fur tonight.”

“Me too!”

“Oh my god!”

The conversation that followed would be fairly hazy for both women, but it generally consisted of the basic elements of their costumes, followed by the trio of boys who were vying for Pat’s attention at a party that night. They eventually trailed off discussing the merits of certain types of fast foods after a night of drinking, and Max accidentally pressed the ‘end’ button on her phone with her face halfway through a sentence. However, that barely even registered in her drunken mind, and she toddled back out to the living room as though nothing had happened. 

She stumbled a little, but eventually came to a halt by the kitchen island. Ben was seated on one of the stools, and she threw an arm around his thin shoulders as she studied her living room through slightly glossy eyes. During the phone call, the drunk girl and her friends had managed to find a taxi to take them home – which must have been a miracle, because there were a grand total of six taxis in this town, and all of them must have been busy tonight. The drunk couple were currently throwing coats and shoes on, her trailing after him in her little scandalous maid’s costume. With that sorted, it was down to her, Corey, Tiffany, Garret, and Ben, and, of course, Loki. She hadn’t seen him in a little while, and she hoped he hadn’t just gone to bed while he was drunk. 

“Why don’t we jus’ go?” Tiffany suggested lightly from her new spot on the sofa. Max watched with avid fascination as she readjusted the single eye that she had constructed for her costume, and it took her a second to remember that it wasn’t real. 

“Let me get L-Loki, and then we can go,” Max insisted, holding up a finger for them to wait. She felt Ben wrap his arm around her waist to keep her from moving. 

“Maybe he can jus’ meet us there?”

“No, wait two seconds,” Max demanded, pushing him off her and teetering off toward his room. She was in no mood for Ben and his weirdness tonight – if anyone was going to hit on her, it was her roommate.

She vaguely heard Tiffany call for her, but the alcohol made her have a one-track mind as she narrowed in on Loki’s door, which she ended up stumbling into. As she fell, her hand turned the knob unintentionally, and she ended up swinging straight into Loki’s room. Her eyes immediately found Loki in a highly compromising position: an angel on her knees in front of him, pants down to his ankles, his hand in her hair while the other gripped his bedpost, eyes closed and head back, completely relaxed. However, that composure certainly didn’t last, and when she apologized profusely, as much as her drunken mouth could formulate, his eyes flew open and he yanked the girl off. 

“Oh my god, knock much?!” she heard Erica shout as Max fumbled to get the door closed, apologizing as quick as possible. 

Once closed, she stood with her back pressed against his door, her face bright red and her heart racing. Both hands still gripped his doorknob, and she waited for a second to see if he might come after her, perhaps offer an explanation. However, silence followed her departure, and Max stumbled off toward the bathroom shortly thereafter, locking herself inside. Before she knew it, she was seated on the toilet and crying. 

She felt so stupid. All of those feelings, all of those thoughts she had obsessed over with Loki for ages now had been for nothing. Clearly he had no interest in her, otherwise he might have gone to her if he wanted to fool around! He just needed someone, anyone, to get his rocks off, and apparently Max didn’t even rate for that. It was just then, in that very moment, that she realized she actually had genuine feelings for the man – why else would she be silently bawling into a towel in a Viking costume? It definitely wasn’t just a physical attraction, and it hadn’t developed because she actually got along with Loki… Yes, those may have been integral features, but it was now blatantly obvious that Max had developed genuine, deep feelings for her roommate, and they had just been trampled on in the span of twenty seconds.

Seriously, with _Erica_ of all people?! She sniffled loudly as she leaned against the back of the toilet. Max felt absolutely ridiculous. She felt like the King of the Idiots for letting herself fall for a guy that was unattainable and clearly not interested in her as anything more than a friend. After all the flirting, the touching, the glances, Max had been naïve enough to think that it actually meant something to Loki, that she factored above all the other women out there in his books. Clearly, she was wrong. Clearly, she had made a stupid mistake. 

Fuck. 

Now, she couldn’t let this ruin her evening. She may have wanted to do nothing more than march into his room and shout at him for stomping all over her feelings, but she wouldn’t. Fuck him. And fuck Erica. _They_ could fuck if they wanted to! Max glared at her reflection in the mirror as she tried to fix her make-up. Fuck him for not coming to explain. Fuck him for not locking his door. Her lip quivered once more, wobbling under the threat of more tears, but she simply wiped her face down with some make-up removing wipes, and then forcefully – and drunkenly – told herself to get on with the night. Fuck him!

She hated the sound of pity in Tiffany’s voice when she rejoined her friends. 

“I saw them go in a while ago,” her friend slurred. “Fuck him… Let’s jus’ go!”

“Yeah,” she stammered, forcing a smile. “Boot n’ rally!”

“I don’t think that’s really the right context to use that,” Ben insisted, and she gave him a smack on the top of his bald cap.

“Carry me to the bars, professor!” she ordered sloppily, turning him around and leaping up onto his back before he could agree or disagree. 

“Is Loki coming?” Corey asked, fingers clacking away at his phone. 

“Don’t care,” Max insisted firmly as she pointed at the door. “He c’n find his own fucking way there.”

Her friends eyebrows shot up curiously, but she ignored them as Ben barreled his way toward the door. 

Fuck him.


	18. Some Guys

Max managed to wake up before her phone’s alarm Monday morning, and glared at its stupid beeping screen until the shrieking volume finally forced her to turn it off. She sighed noisily, and then stared up at her bedroom ceiling, unable to make herself move to get out of bed. At this point, she needed a shower, but doing so left her open to uncomfortable confrontations with her roommate, so she decided to wait until she knew he wasn’t home. 

Ugh. 

So, the rest of her Halloween night had been a bit of disaster. After she made Ben carry her all the way to the bar, she had to prove to the bouncers that she wasn’t drunk enough yet to come in, which turned into some unnecessarily serious ordeal that ended up with her group of friends heading elsewhere for the night. They hit up a livelier club instead, surrounded by twenty-year olds who were just celebrating their first beer illegally – or so it seemed – and Max immediately had the group do tequila shots to celebrate the holiday. Mistake of epic proportions. 

She was already pretty wasted by the time she got to the club, and tequila was just the drink to set her over the edge. Sloppy dancing on tables, shot drinking, and slurred speaking ensued. At some point in the morning, Max found herself alone with Ben, who was also drunk, but she realized later that he definitely was not as hammered as she was. From what she could piece together, her friend ended up trying to kiss her, and persisted despite the fact she turned him down twice. 

Finally, sick of not being heard, Max dumped her drink on his lap and stormed out of the bar in a messy, drunken hurry. From there, she walked the entire way home, tripping over nothing and yelling at cars who honked at her, until she finally stumbled into her apartment and basically face-planted onto the couch.

Saturday morning came way too quickly, and she woke up in a much better position than she landed in. Apparently, Loki had fetched a pillow and tucked it under her face sometime that morning. She could hear him shuffling around in the kitchen, smell the pancakes, and yet she wanted absolutely no part of it. She wanted nothing to do with him; her feelings and ego had taken a pretty big beating the night before, and for the most part, she was too embarrassed to face him at that point. 

So, instead of picking at the small plate he set in front of her on the coffee table, Max forced herself up, pulled her stupid costume down to a more reasonable place on her hips, and then sauntered off to the bathroom to vomit up the lingering alcohol in her stomach. From there, she basically crawled into her room and spent the day in bed with one of the worst hangovers she had had in a long time. 

Loki came to check on her twice that day – once in the early afternoon and once in the late evening – but Max pretended to be asleep both times. Whenever she thought about what she saw from the night before, she wanted to cry. For almost a month now she had been excited to be around him, acutely aware of the feelings that had developed for her roommate, and for some silly reason, she thought they might act on them at the Halloween festivities. 

However, it seemed like most of the guys she knew, he was simply out there looking to get a bit of action, and that was that. Whatever. Fine. He may not have technically owed her anything, seeing as they weren’t a couple by any stretch, but he was an ass for flirting with her as much as he did and then hooking up with a woman Max had an intense dislike for. If that was all he wanted, then he had to stop hitting on her whenever they were alone. 

So, Max hid away all day in bed, nursing her fractured heart and ego by catching up on the reality shows she missed online. Hunger propelled her to leave the room once, during which time she made a sandwich and merely grunted at Loki when he greeted her, and she left another time to use the bathroom and brush up for the night. Otherwise, Max became a hermit for the day, and it seemed entirely necessary at the time. Unfortunately, when Sunday rolled around, she felt much better, and she had no real excuse to hide away in her room except for the fact that she was upset and embarrassed. However, all she knew was that she still did not want to talk to Loki, so she did the most mature thing she could think of – texted Tiff for a lunch date and ran away while he was in the shower. 

She was lucky to have someone selfless like Tiffany around when she needed to vent, and she spent most of her lunch dissecting almost every meaningful interaction she had had with Loki since he moved in so that they could collectively decide she hadn’t been making the flirtation up in her head. Like any good friend would, Tiffany definitely agreed that she was justified to be a little upset, but she was also careful to insist that Max not let that one night ruin what was a pretty decent friendship. After all, she and Loki did get along when they weren’t flirting too, which meant they were capable of being friends now that she knew he just wanted to get some from a trashy girl. 

Okay, Erica wasn’t trashy… Well, not super trashy; Max was just bitter. 

After she finished what she considered an insightful lunch with her friend, Max decided to do a bit of shopping downtown, and splurged on a new pair of boots for the upcoming winter. The weather forecast already predicted the first snowfall within a week or so, which meant an early winter filled with slush, ice, and endless mounds of snow. Winter was probably her least favourite season, because it seemed unending, and it meant fall was finally over. She disliked the horrendous snow when she needed to drive somewhere, wearing ten thousand layers to keep warm on the walk somewhere and sweating like a beast when she arrived, and the fact that she usually gained ten pounds because of all the holiday foods. It was just such an exhausting season, and she was always so excited when the snow first started to melt in the spring. 

However, that was a long way away at this point, and she forced herself to focus on the issues. Tiffany had brought up a good point – she shouldn’t let this one incident ruin her friendship with Loki. However, if she hadn’t accidentally seen it, she would have continued having incredibly strong feelings for him, and she might have even tried to hook up with him at the bar after he had just gotten with someone else. There was no way he would have told her about his little rendezvous, which meant she would have continued looking like a moron as she mooned over him whenever they were alone. So, in a way, it was a good thing that she saw what she saw, as painful as it was, because it meant she wouldn’t be ignorant in the days that followed. 

That didn’t make it hurt any less, mind you, but Max wasn’t going to let it drag on for too long. She was never one for drama in relationships; she couldn’t recall having fought with any of her high school boyfriends because she wanted to avoid unnecessary tensions. With her last boyfriend, she did learn that the occasional spat was necessary to clear the air, but she didn’t want to do that with Loki over something like this. She didn’t want to seem petty and childish, but it was hard not to when she felt like he had just spat in the face of her affections. So, as she walked home clutching her new boots, Max decided that she wasn’t going to go out of her way to be cruel or unwelcoming to her roommate, but she also acknowledged that she needed time to mend the wounds. If that meant she had to take a couple of days and not goof around with him, so be it. 

Even with all her thoughts in order, Max was still pretty happy to not deal with Loki when she got home in the early evening. He had work that night, which meant she could do everything she needed to do on her own and be hidden away in her room when he returned – which was exactly what she did. Max spent the night finishing up an essay that was due in a few days, and printed several copies so that she could get her editing on sometime during the following day. 

Well, it was the following day, and all Max wanted to do was stare at her ceiling and spend the day in bed. She woke up in no mood for classes, or first years whining about their marks, and yet she couldn’t just stay in bed all day. Apparently, growing up meant ignoring one’s basic wants and just getting shit done. However, that didn’t mean she couldn’t loll around in bed for a little while longer, trolling through Facebook feeds and hilarious pictures of cats from the comfort of her bed. Eventually, when she realized she only had a half hour to get up, get dressed, eat, and get to her first class, Max groaned noisily and flung herself out of bed. 

She peeled off her old-shirt and Scooby-Doo pajama pants, and then hurriedly grabbed whatever she could find to make up an outfit for the day: jeans and a grey sweatshirt – classy as always. Since she definitely did not have time to shower now, she instead threw her hair up in bun as she darted out of her room and into the bathroom. Make-up came next, though barely enough to make a noticeable difference, and she quickly ran a toothbrush over her teeth, but mostly for the sake of getting rid of some morning breath. With all that sorted, Max hurried back to her room, threw her laptop in her backpack, and then decided she would get a proper breakfast from the bagel shop on campus after her first class. 

She grimaced a little when she saw that Loki’s door was open and he wasn’t inside, because she knew it was too early for him to be in class. As per usual, she found him seated on the couch, the morning news program blaring from the TV. He looked up and over the back of the sofa as she passed, and she merely raised her eyebrows and forced some sort of a smile as a greeting. 

“Class?” he asked, his eyes burning holes into the back of her head as she grabbed an apple from their shared fruit basket. 

“Yup,” Max told him, blatantly aware that it had been a rhetorical question not in need of an answer. 

“I left some eggs in the pan for you,” he told her as she crossed the room to throw on her jacket. “They should still be warm.”

“Thanks, I just don’t have time to eat,” she remarked stiffly, unable to look at him as she got ready. Whenever she did, she felt humiliated, embarrassed, and it all felt unnecessary. 

“Max—”

“I’ll see you after classes,” she said quickly, cutting off any sort of comment he intended to make as she hurried out the door. 

She stopped at the end of their small porch to zip up her coat, and then sighed irritably. There was no need for any of this behaviour, and the logical part of her brain knew she ought to just talk to Loki rather than make it uncomfortable. However, words caught in her throat whenever she tried to come up with casual, normal conversation, so it seemed easier to just breeze by and hope that it got better as the week went on. He probably noticed the change in their dynamics, but she definitely wasn’t up for some big discussion about it. He had to realize she had some sort of feelings for him, and that he hurt them a little with what he did… but then again, he was a guy, and they tended not to give this much thought into anything. 

Her march to class was brisk and boring, icy air clinging to exposed bits of skin around her neck and face. As usual, campus was full of people scrambling to get to class, and Max was just lucky enough to squeeze into her small seminar room as her professor shut the door. There were a few people absent from their small class, one that usually had about fifteen people in it, and Max took up her usual seat near the front. She began unpacking her things just as her professor informed them that it would be a short lesson today, as she merely wanted to have a consultation with everyone regarding the first drafts of their recent essay, and then they would be dismissed. Max nodded, pleased that she would be getting out of the class sooner today rather than later, and then eased back into her chair. 

They had all been forced to write an essay comparing the methods of curatorial practices between the early twentieth century and more modern tactics; it was a subject that Max found fairly boring, but she thought she managed to string together an effective essay in the end. So, as she watched her professor go to the first person in the row, Max pulled out her laptop and decided to check through her email while she waited. After removing the standard ten emails of scams that she usually got, Max perused a newsletter that the department sent out, followed briefly by a tempting memo from an online store she subscribed to detailing a sale, and then finally she quickly checked out the gist of some emails that had been sent to her by students in her undergrad class. 

Sadly, nothing other than the potential discounts offered at the one store tempted her to do much more than stare at it passively, and eventually she was simply clicking around through her inbox to see what she had bothered to keep. She eventually found herself staring at Patricia’s old email with links to the summer internship in England, one that she had ignored after she got it, and then clicked it for the sake of giving it another read. The email was full of encouraging words from her best friend about Max’s potential to be more with her work than what she was doing, followed by an underlined link to take her to the website. 

She hesitated before clicking on it, but only for a brief moment. Their website was a little amateur compared to the ones she had seen elsewhere, but there seemed to be a lot of information for her to read over. However, before she could get into the meatier opportunities that the internship offered, her professor finally made his way over to her desk, and she was forced to close her laptop and wait for the inevitable criticism that followed. 

“Okay,” her professor sighed as he pulled up a nearby chair. She watched him readjust his thin glasses, eyes skimming a page of notes stapled to the front of her assignment. “This wasn’t great, Max.”

She winced a little, but managed to maintain her composure as he passed the essay over to her. The first page was completely full with red scribbles, and she tried to blink back her frustration. She knew she hadn’t worked super hard on the assignment, but she had not expected him to produce such a plethora of comments. Unfortunately, there were times when she still had her undergrad sentimentality when it came to doing certain assignments; she wrongly assumed professors would give it a skim read and then give her anywhere between a 75 and an 80 if she produced a coherent argument. That, however, was not the case for graduate school work, and Max slumped back into her chair glumly as her professor proceeded to outline every single thing that was wrong with her paper. 

“I think you know you could have brought up dozens of more curatorial styles that we used to see,” the older man insisted, pushing his glasses up the arch of his nose as he leaned forward, red pen in hand. “You mention some of the obvious ones that we discussed in class, but I really wanted you guys to find some on your own and discuss them in detail.”

Well, maybe that should have been in the fucking syllabus. She bit back her comment, and simply nodded, trying her best to look highly attentive as he demolished her paper. 

“The similarities and differences you draw between the eras of museum studies are a little weak,” he continued, flipping through her essay to circle some key points. “I mean, they are very obvious, and, dare I say, cliché.”

“That’s what I felt when I was writing it,” Max told him weakly. 

She had been perfectly aware that everything she brought up in her paper was fairly standard information, stuff one might expect in a second or third year undergraduate paper, but at the time she simply hadn’t cared. She was knee-deep in Halloween preparations, and schoolwork seemed trivial in comparison. 

“I’m sure you did,” he carried on. “I know you can produce better work than this. You don’t even offer anything new in the concluding paragraph… I would have liked to see some contemplation about upcoming methods in the curatorial sciences, and possibly make some predictions of how they may catch in the North American market. You just… stopped the essay after you restated your point.”

She had already tuned him out, but continued to nod along anyway. 

“I mean, I expect a lot better from all of you at this point,” he told her frankly. “This is a paper that would just barely pass by my standards, and that’s if I’m in a generous mood when I’m marking.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

“Fix this,” he told her as he pushed her assignment across the desk toward her. “Add in my suggestions, and then I want to see new, original thought to back up your thesis. Okay?”

She nodded a little, and then forced a bit of a smile when he stared down at her through his glasses. He wasn’t being cruel by any means, but he might have expected a little too much of her first legitimate assignment of the year for his class. 

Fuck. 

She noticed that as soon as the professor moved onto another student, the ones before got up and left. So, she had no intentions of sitting there for the rest of the class period and staring at that awful essay, and therefore gathered up her things and stuffed them in her backpack. Moments later, she was out the door and gone, glaring at nothing in particular as she marched along the empty corridors of the building. 

Once outside, she struggled to get her coat zipped up in time before the nippy breeze darted in, and she hugged her body as she pushed through the ridiculously windy day on campus. The sky looked awful suddenly, as though it might pour angry chunks of snow-snot at any moment, and she quickly decided that she was going to spend the day somewhere inside as soon as possible. While she wasn’t really in the mood to linger on campus after the poor essay left a sour taste in her mouth, she didn’t particularly want to go home either. Her first conversation all weekend with Loki had been abrupt and clearly full of avoidance on her part, and she was pretty sure he wasn’t just going to let it slide. 

However, she also knew he worked tonight, and if she could wait around on campus until six, she was in the clear for another day. Childish? Yes, but after getting completely desecrated on an essay she had expected to be an easy A, Max wasn’t really in the mood to talk to anyone, let alone Loki. 

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like the universe was going to give her what she wanted today, and she almost jumped out of her skin when someone grabbed her arm from behind. She whipped back, ready to unleash a verbal assault on whoever thought it would be a good idea to manhandle her in public, and then relaxed a little when she saw her assailant. 

“Ben,” Max breathed, shaking her head a little as she tucked some stray hairs behind her ear. “That was a bit aggressive, but hey!”

“Sorry,” he laughed, scratching at the back of his head. “You were just motoring through campus… I actually had to jog to keep up.”

“Woman on a mission,” she insisted as she tried her best to keep the mood light and not awkward. However, it was pretty obvious by every inch of his body language that he felt uncomfortable standing in front of her, and she braced herself for the impending conversation. “Listen, uh, I need to—”

“I’m so sorry for Friday night,” Ben blurted suddenly, his cheeks darkening as Max winced a little. “I don’t know what came over me—”

“Alcohol,” she said quickly, giving him a nod. “Look, it’s fine. Stuff happens sometimes, and I was completely plastered out of my mind, so let’s just call it a day.”

“No, I was so inconsiderate,” he rambled, and Max immediately started to feel her irritation build. “You actually had to push me off, and I’m so sorry. I’m not normally like that—”

“We’ve been friends since high school,” Max told him firmly. “I am aware of your actual personality. I’m not upset about it.”

“That’s because you’re a nice person,” he babbled, “but I need you to hear me out.”

“Ben, you really don’t need to—”

“No, I do.”

“No, seriously, you don’t—”

“It’s just, for the last year or so, I’ve been having these feelings,” he started, and Max wanted to do nothing more than slap him across the face, “and I’m generally pretty good at keeping them in check, but I was drinking—”

“Ben!” she all but shouted. He flinched a little, mouth clamping shut as she glared at him. “I don’t care about what happened! I honestly, truly, really don’t care. We’re fine. We’re still friends, and I don’t want something to spoil that. So you can just let it go, for fuck’s sake, and stop trying to ruin what we’ve got? We’re fine, okay? Fine. I genuinely like spending time with you, but if you’re going to pull this bullshit on me now and make things awkward, I’m going to stop wanting to hang around with you. So just… Can we just not talk about it?”

“Y-Yeah, that’s fine.”

“Good,” she snapped. “Sorry, but I’m just not in the mood today. I’ll text you later.”

She stomped off toward the library, and her pace slowed to a depressed stroll when she realized what a super huge mega-bitch she had been at the drop of a hat. Guilt flooded in, and she turned back to see if he might still be standing where she had left him, but nodded when she saw he wasn’t. Maybe she could just give him a call tonight and apologize for having a meltdown on him. That might have been a little bit better than the slightly standoffish text she had planned to send. 

The silence of the library was actually welcoming after the horrendous wind outside and the miserable attitude she felt on the inside. Unfortunately, finding a spot to sit where there was also a somewhere to plug in her laptop charger was like finding a pink M&M in a bag of peanut butter M&Ms… unlikely and almost downright impossible 99.9999999996% of the time. After almost twenty minutes of circling all three floors of the expansive building, Max managed to swoop in and steal a seat next to the furnace as someone else left. She would have preferred a pretty window seat with an idyllic view of her campus, but the furnace was warm and had an electrical outlet, so whatever. 

She slowly unpacked the entirety of her bag, spreading it out so that no one would be tempted to sit on the other side of the table with her, and then turned on her laptop again. The screen flickered on and back to Pat’s email about the internship, and Max decided to spend a little while flicking through the information page on the website. It seemed like a pretty sweet deal. Naturally, she would be a lowly student intern, but it was in England, and the spot she was applying for apparently had limited competition from other English-speaking communities outside the UK. It lasted for either two or four months, and in the end the student would walk away with some shining letter of recommendation and all the skills one might need on a resume for an entry-level position at museums elsewhere.

You know what? Fuck it. She was going to do this. 

Normally, Max liked to have her summers as a time to cool off between school years, but she really only had a year and a half of graduate school left to go, and then it was off to the real world. If she wanted to do something in this real world, then she ought to make a little effort to secure a good position in the future. Plus, she sort of just wanted to get away from Masonville for a bit. She shouldn’t let her current frustrations shape her future, but that was the way it worked today, apparently. Almost like she shouldn’t shop online while drunk, but somehow she usually couldn’t stop herself from doing that either. 

So, she spent the next few hours drafting query letters and spiffing up her resume the best she could, eager to have a shot to do something worthwhile and relatable to all the years she had put in at college. Boys and their stupidity shouldn’t affect her – this was the stuff that mattered. 

Right?


	19. A Just Punishment

Today had been an atrocious example of a day in the life of a pitiful human. In fact, this entire week had been something of a failure, and Loki wanted to do nothing more than come home and make something hot to eat. The weather had turned abysmal in a matter of days, and the walk to the St. Judith’s campus was dreadful even with the sun out. Today, unfortunately, the sun had yet to surface once, and Loki marched along with soaking wet shoes as a strange mixture of rain and snow pelted down at him from the sky. He glared irritably at anything and everything that dared to cross his path, and nearly swore aloud when a car swerved to a stop as he was crossing the street. Nothing had gone his way thus far that day, and it seemed that it hadn’t gotten much better once he left campus. 

Ludwick had dismissed him quite excessively in front of his peers in his lecture that afternoon, and he had received a failing grade for an essay that he handed in for another class; none of this should matter to him, and yet it seemed as though everything mattered if he wanted to somehow get his powers back from Odin. 

He was saddled with an immense amount of work to slog through over the upcoming weekend, and his manager at the bookstore barely let him take the next few days off in order to catch up on his coursework. The hideous cow told him that he could find a way to make it up to her, as though allowing him a few evenings to himself to handle his assignments was the biggest favour she had ever given, and it took everything in Loki’s being not to jab a pencil in her eye. People seemed no better than cars in the awful weather, and as he tried to escape that wretched campus, he found himself stumbled into and knocked against more times than he could count. Plus the soaking wet shoes and socks – had he already mentioned that? Yes, he wanted to do nothing more than get back to his apartment, put on dry clothing, and make a bowl of soup in order to decompress. 

Regrettably, Loki was acutely aware that the apartment was no longer the peaceful haven it had once been. Ever since Max had the unfortunate luck to stumble in upon his indiscretion with that other woman, she had been remarkably frosty toward him. At first, he could understand; he was hardly blameless in terms of stroking her affections, but he hadn’t meant for her to see him quenching a thirst that had become so unbearable that he could hardly concentrate. 

He may have been exceptionally fond of his roommate, almost to the point where it made him uncomfortable to focus on too much, but he wasn’t about to use her to satisfy something that was so temporary and pitiful. Erica had served a purpose to meet an end, and when he was finished with her, he sent her along with the promises of contacting her the next day, but never did. The woman was barely a blip on his radar – an expression he had come to hear repeatedly on some of the terrible shows Max enjoyed – and before the night was up he had almost forgotten about her. 

Max had returned, as he expected she would, quite intoxicated, and passed out face first on the couch. She was in no state to be moved, so Loki tried his best to make her comfortable, and then decided to fix her some breakfast to smooth things over. He anticipated her mood in the morning with fair accuracy, but he had not expected her to send him away every time he tried to see her. It was a lonely existence when the one person who he spent most of his time with actively avoided him at all costs. 

Unfortunately, he had to work Sunday night, and she spent the day out, escaping while he was in the shower, and the tension lingered. To him, his transgression hadn’t been great enough to warrant the punishment, and despite the fact that he was busy with keeping himself afloat in this mortal life, he was more than willing to take some time out to speak with the woman so that she might understand why she ought not to ignore him. 

However, the school week started again, and while Max did not blatantly ignore him anymore, she was far more distant than he would have liked. He could understand nursing some hurt feelings, but the way she spoke to him in such clipped, abrupt sentences was enough to put him in a foul mood every single day of that week. He knew he couldn’t push her too far, as she might retract further or possibly finally yell at him, but he needed to do something. He cooked dinners big enough to share – poorly, mind you, but it was the thought that mattered – but Max professed to not being hungry or having already ate before she returned home. She laughed seldom, and seemed to do most of her work in her room when she was open – though now that it was nearing the end of the week, she had started to leave her door open more often. They had had one night of watching the television box together, and she seemed stiff the entire time, unwilling to discuss anything more than the program they were watching. 

Honestly, Frigga had always told him that a woman scorned would be a powerful force, but he hadn’t expected silence and dismissal to be the force that ruined him.

Now, he had tonight and the remainder of the weekend free from the shackles of his miserable occupation in this pathetic realm, which meant he had ample time to catch up on some of the pointless stressors from his classes, and possibly attempt to smooth things over with Max. He had checked the schedule board at the store before he left, and she wasn’t due for a shift until the following Monday. He also knew her schooling was piling up, which meant she would be forced indoors to avoid the gloomy weather and get a grasp on her assignments. If anything, this was the perfect time to approach her to discuss some sort of settlement to this silent warring of wills, but he would need his mood to improve before any of that happened. The mind was certainly willing to be patient with his roommate, but he was physically exhausted from struggling through the terrible weather all day, and the better half of his spirit wanted to do nothing aside from sleep. 

Soup would perk him up, even if it was a pittance compared to the food in Asgard. On days like these, he really did miss having his meals prepared for him, the food exquisite and rich. He had certainly lived a spoiled life once, and perhaps he would again someday: no day soon, frustratingly enough. 

He groaned noisily when he slipped on a particularly wet patch in the parking lot of the apartment complex, but pushed forward knowing that warmth was only a few steps away. 

Loki definitely wasn’t prepared for this sort of weather just yet, and decided to forgo a payment toward the credit card company in order to buy real winter clothing when he received his next sum from the bookstore. Even if Max wasn’t speaking to him about much these days, she could have given a little warning to how poorly his shoes would hold up against the wet and dampness. 

With the key lodged firmly in the door, Loki stumbled in, cursing the foul weather softly in the process, and then slammed the door to keep it out. He then kicked off his soaking shoes, removed his equally wet socks, and hung his coat on the nearby hanger. Much to his surprise, he spotted Max on the couch, her legs tucked neatly beneath her as she scowled at a paper in her lap, red marking pen in hand. For some reason, he wanted nothing more than to see her look up, grin impishly, and then ask him if it was raining outside. He missed the ease that she once provided for him, even if it was only for a short amount of time. 

“Miserable weather,” Loki offered as he studied her, backpack in hand, and waited for some sort of response. However, when nothing came, he glared a little, and then repeated what he said. It was only then that Max withdrew some white earbud from her ear, blinking back at him as though she hadn’t even realized he was there. 

“Sorry, what?”

“The weather,” he repeated for a third time, gesturing back to the nearby window with a nod of his head. “It’s miserable.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty shitty out there,” she commented, sparing a glance in the direction of the window before plugging her bud back in and returning to her work. Loki pursed his lips a little in return, and then stalked back to his room miserably. Honestly, if she wanted to keep him at an arm’s length forever, she was doing a damned good job!

After hurling his backpack onto his small bed, he proceeded to strip off his wet clothing and toss it in the basket Max bought for his dirty clothes, and then pulled on a thick sweater and a pair of loose pants. This was certainly more comfortable, but it seemed as though the chill had run straight through to his bones, penetrating the deepest layers of this weak physical being without much effort. A hot shower may have soothed him, but he was as hungry as he always was after a day rotting away in classrooms, and he needed something to appease that desire before anything else. 

Running a hand through his hair, he hurried out toward the door, only to yelp softly when he stubbed his pinky toe on the leg of his chair. Wincing, Loki slowed to a brisk hobble as he continued toward the door, the offended digit wailing with every step he took. Max remained where he left her when he resurfaced in their shared living space, and Loki decided to satisfy his hunger before he even attempted to speak with her again. So, he rummaged about in the cupboards for a can of soup, settling on the only can they had with meat in it, and then searched for an adequate sized pot. 

From there, it was a series of disasters, one right after the next. He knocked his head against a drawer after crouching down to fetch a pot. He cut a small gash into his finger after he opened the can of soup. He stood around for ages waiting for the liquid to boil, only to realize he hadn’t even turned the boiler on. He stepped on something hard on the floor, but when he bent down to pick it up, it seemed to vanish from sight. He poured himself a glass of milk only to discover upon tasting it that it had gone sour. In the process of dumping the foul liquid into the sink, he placed his hand down in irritation, only to have the slight tip of his pinky finger graze the heat from the nearby burner, forcing him to recoil in anger and pain. 

Finally, unable to take the strain and pressure built up within him, Loki hurled the glass at the wall with all his strength. It shattered upon impact, sending shards of glass everywhere as Max cried out in surprise. 

Apparently that she could hear. 

Vision clouded by fury, Loki stormed toward the front door, threw it open, and then vanished into the bleak weather that had tormented him relentlessly already that day. This time around, however, he couldn’t feel it, too taken by his frustration to even notice that he hadn’t put on any shoes, or a jacket, or even shut the door behind him as he went. He had had enough of this place, that woman, this pathetic lump of flesh he had to live in. He had served his damn time already, and he had played by Odin’s rules from the beginning; if anything, he had lived more as a human now than Thor had ever done. His bumbling stepbrother actually told people who he was, whereas Loki managed to keep his cover successfully all this time – shouldn’t that knock a period of time off his sentence?! 

He barely felt the elements as he marched along, grinding his teeth together and knocking over the odd trash can here and there. He ignored the looks he got from neighbours, the honks he heard from cars, and the way his toes were ready to fall off after the first five minutes. His finger still bled a bright crimson from where he had cut it, another finger seared from the burner, but still he pushed forward, too infuriated at the thought of suffering on like this for another moment longer. How could they stand to live like this? How could they survive and rule an entire planet in bodies that were so flimsy and easily broken?

Before he realized it, he had walked toward his old familiar jogging trail away from the small town. The forest loomed ahead of him through the gray haze, trees taunting him as their vacant branches shimmered in the wind. It was then that he started to shiver, his breath furling out in bursts of fog and mist. His eyes watered against the onslaught of air, cold and biting against any bits of exposed skin, and he could officially no longer feel his feet. How many times had he ventured into the realm of the Frost Giants and never once felt this way? Countless. Countless times in the past, Loki had endured scorching heat and bitter cold, and never once had his body succumbed to the elements. This truly was a horrific punishment set down by the All-father, and he wasn’t sure how much more of it he could take. 

A flutter of movement suddenly caught his eye, and he glared at the treeline in an attempt to decipher what had distracted him. From there, he saw a shape emerge, and he glared at the familiarity of it. There, settled between two trees, was one of Odin’s wolves. They patrolled the human realm for him from the shadows, their bright yellow eyes forever unblinking as they took in Midgardian life year after year. Had he sent one to collect him? Loki stumbled forward, his feet unwilling to move, but the wolf merely stared back at him, stationary and stoic. His lip curled upward in a snarl, one that might rival that of the beast, and he finally lost himself, his voice carrying over the wind. 

“What is it that you want from me?” he demanded savagely, gesturing out to the world with his arms. “I have done everything you commanded… I have lived in this worthless shell for almost two and a half months now, and you still leave me here to suffer!”

His hand began to quiver, and Loki then realized his entire body pulsated under the frigid air. His teeth chattered so violently that it became difficult to speak, difficult to do much more than clench his jaw together and glare, but he couldn’t quiet himself any longer. 

“Do you want me to die in this realm?” he shouted, fighting a desire to rush forth and stick his thumbs into those unfaltering yellow eyes. “Is that why you sent me here? To die? Was it never about me learning a lesson, All-father? It seems so simple, so easy, to take away my strength and leave me to rot here!” 

The wind reached its peak at last, screaming back at him with such fury that it was an effort to stay standing, but he pressed on. 

“Shall I die here for you? What will dear Frigga say when you kill her son?!” he spat, eyes widening when the wolf turned away and disappeared back into the darkness. “Where are you going? I am still an Asgardian prince! How dare you turn your back on me?!”

Then, as quickly as the wind had built up, it stopped, leaving a dead silence around him. Nothing moved in the forest, and no eyes resurfaced to gawk at him. He stood there at the entrance of the trail, utterly alone, and realized no one had come to collect him. His body screamed in agony, and yet he managed to stay standing on the soggy, muddy ground, sharp pins pulsing through his appendages. Perhaps he would just die here. No one on this planet would notice his absence, and apparently no one in Asgard would either. There were countless mercenaries out for his skin; death seemed like an inevitable path now, so why prolong the agony?

However, as he took a step toward the forest, a horn sounded behind him noisily. He glanced back with a frown, and his knees nearly buckled when he saw Max jump out of the front seat. Loki merely blinked at her as she hurried forward, a large bundle of material in her hands, and then drifted toward a wet bench. The dampness soaked through his pants when he sat, but his body was so cold at this point that it barely fazed him. Instead, he simply sat there, his hands resting on his knees, his stare blank and at nothing in particular. He heard her approach slow, and then finally stop a few feet away from him, her breathing apparent in the vacant space. 

“Hey crazypants.” She chuckled nervously. “How are we doing?”

He said nothing, unable to formulate much with his stiff jaw, and merely stared up at her. This was the first time in the entire week that he hadn’t seen the disdain in her eyes, the masked hurt. Instead, she appeared… concerned? Well, perhaps not quite that far, but there was something other than anger written across her face, and a small part of him warmed at the thought.

“So,” Max continued as she dumped her armful of clothing down on the bench beside him, “I noticed you didn’t actually put any shoes on before your walkout, and I figured since it’s kind of cold, you might… you might need stuff.”

Loki tried to move his arms to pick something up, but his body shook so violently that it was difficult to do much of anything. So, he simply watched as Max unfurled a pair of socks and kneeled down in front of him, her gloved hands barely registering on his skin as she tugged thick white socks on over his feet. She then grabbed a pair of boots he had never seen before and stuffed his feet into them, and although they were a little snug, they immediately started the warming process upon contact. That process, unfortunately, was actually quite painful, and Loki inhaled sharply when his feet began to feel again. 

“There we go,” Max murmured softly, looking up at him as she tucked some hair behind her ear. “You’ll lose a toe if you just sat out here.” 

“Thank you,” he grunted stiffly. Loki caught her smile a little before she grabbed a thick jacket and wrapped it around his shoulders, and with some effort he slid his arms through the sleeves. It was again too small for him, but anything was better than what he was without. 

“Nolan had a box of stuff in my closet,” she admitted as she popped a cap on his head, his ears singing when they were finally covered. “I knew it wouldn’t fit, but all your stuff was wet.”

“I’m not used to this weather,” he managed, speaking very slowly and deliberately as his teeth chattered. She nodded, and then took a seat next to him on the bench, blowing out a small puff of air as she too stared out into the forest. 

“Want to talk about it?” she inquired after a very long moment of nothing but the sound of his rattling teeth between them. He knew she meant to know about why he had stormed out in a fit of rage from their apartment, but that wasn’t something he was willing to discuss with her just yet. Instead, he turned the tables back on her. 

“You had no right to blatantly ignore me all week,” he said gruffly, and he saw her fidget out of the corner of his eye. “What I did was in no way something to deliberately hurt you, and I am sorry that I did.”

“Okay.”

“But you had no reason to carry on like this for the week,” he continued, his icy fingers fiddling with the zipper of this new coat. “I… I have no one but you, Max, and I care for you, but I have no obligation to you.”

“Yeah, but you…” she trailed off, kicking out at some dead wet leaves clustered around her feet. “You just…”

“Your punishment did not fit my crime,” he insisted weakly. “I am allowed to do whatever I wish with whomever I wish.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re not an ass when you do,” Max muttered. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes, but stayed silent when he heard her sigh. “I know I should have stopped being like this on like… Monday, but I just… I couldn’t.”

“Max—”

“I get that it might seem irrational, and I’m not going to explain everything to you,” she insisted, and he noticed that her cheeks had gone red: perhaps from the wind, perhaps from embarrassment, and perhaps a little of both. “My feelings were hurt, and I… I felt stupid, and I needed some space from you so I could stop feeling like that.”

“I did not appreciate the space,” he admitted earnestly. “I missed having you with me.”

He bit back an admission of his loneliness without her, as he was sure she could guess how he felt when he was completely on his own. Eyebrows shot up in surprise when she reached out and caught his quivering hands between hers, and despite the fact that they were too small to do much, he appreciated the sentiment. He curled his hands into fists and let her set them on her lap, happy with the way her thumbs grazed over his skin. 

“See, you say stuff like that, and then you…”She swallowed noticeably, and then shrugged, “Whatever. I missed you too.”

“Good,” he chuckled, leaning in a little closer and quirking an eyebrow. “So will you speak to me about nothing again?”

She too leaned in, and then licked her lips and nodded. “Yeah, I will, but you can’t hook up with Erica ever again.”

“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that,” he mused. Then, without thinking, he brought his hand up and brushed her hair behind her other ear, noticing the skin on her neck prickle at the contact. 

“Good.”

His eyes drifted from her eyes to her lips, and then wandered absently back to the car on their own accord. It must have been so much warmer in there, and he heard her snort charmingly before giving his numb hand a squeeze. 

“I guess we should have had this conversation in a place with heaters,” she laughed as she rose to her feet. “Come on, I’ll buy you dinner. Your soup frothed over and wrecked the floor while you were gone.”

“Fantastic,” he grumbled, wincing noticeably as his feet protested to being stood on. He stumbled a little when he started to move, and Max immediately wedged herself beneath his arm and wrapped a hand around his waist, offering a little support as his stiff limbs struggled to move. He hoped that they could pick up dinner, because he certainly couldn’t take sitting in a restaurant right now; Loki wanted warm clothing, a blanket, and possibly Chinese food on the couch in front of the television box immediately. 

His thoughts of death and drama were pushed aside for now. He had stated his case to Odin’s servant, and surely the All-father was aware of his anger and frustration with his current situation. However, no feelings of power had been restored because of it, and therefore he was supposed to endure it until the man was satisfied with his punishment. It made no sense to give Odin the gratification of killing himself, particularly if that had been the underlying goal from the beginning. No, when the All-father made deals, he had to see them through; when Loki could fully appreciate the human race, he would get his abilities back. For now, it was merely a matter of figuring out how to get there. 

Today, he had only needed an ounce of clarity, and it was a confusing realization that the woman half-carrying him back to the car had provided that. 

“So, what caused the temper tantrum?” Max asked again as they neared the vehicle. Loki considered his answer for a moment, and then leaned against the car as she opened the door for him. 

“Everything.”

“I get that,” she admitted with a nod, nibbling on her lower lip as she curled over the car door. “Let’s not do that again, okay?”

“Agreed,” he muttered as he slid inside, a little put off that it was just as cool there as it was outside. “How did you find me?”

She shrugged, “I dunno… I was driving, and I sort of just figured you weren’t heading somewhere that required shoes, and then I ended up here.”

“Clever girl,” Loki chuckled, and her eyes narrowed at him playfully as she slammed the door shut. He watched her hurry around the front of the car, and then literally counted the seconds until she had the car up and running, heat blasting from the front of the dashboard. 

“So, McDonald’s?”

“To go, please,” Loki remarked, and she laughed as they pulled away from the forest. In the side mirror, Loki caught sight of a stark pair of yellow eyes lingering in the treeline again.


	20. I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy

Max glanced at the bright clock glaring from her phone screen, and then returned her gaze to the TV, fingers fidgeting over the scissors in her hand. Tonight was the night she would finally cut Loki’s hair. He had let it trail on down to his shoulders for long enough, and it was starting to get to a bit of a gross length, even on a guy as good looking as her roommate. Now, it wasn’t like he let it get greasy or unkempt looking, but it was just getting a little too long for the type of guy he was; Loki wasn’t some guy who sat shoeless on street corners and hummed to an acoustic guitar solo, and therefore he should stop sporting the look. 

It had been a week since Loki threw a hissy fit and stormed out of their apartment, and Max was happy to say that things had settled back to relative normalcy. He brought up a number of good points when they talked about her treatment of him in the wake of his indiscretion with Erica, but Max had already come to those conclusions on her own. She shouldn’t have simply boxed him out, and instead, she should have acted like an adult and simply talked to him. It might have been incredibly awkward at the time, and she was sure she would have stumbled over her words and possibly acted more emotional than necessary, but at least they wouldn’t have lost the week they did. 

Although he had already apologized, Loki seemed to go out of his way over the course of the week to show just how sorry he actually was. She hadn’t cooked a meal or washed a dish since their talk, and while she enjoyed him putting in a little more effort into the housework, she was ready to start pitching in again; it felt awkward to be waited on by someone she still had feelings for. 

Yes, the feelings were still alive. Unfortunately, it seemed that even with spending a week on her own and being grumpy with him, Max had yet to shake away her pesky emotions. She tried; for a while she considered letting him grow his hair out to an awful length so that the physical side of her attraction might fade, but that seemed too cruel a punishment at this point. So, even as she tried to combat her feelings for him, Max saw it as a stroke of good will to give her roommate a haircut. He was bound to appreciate the gesture, and at this point, she was all confused again as to whether the feelings were reciprocal or not. 

This week had been so much easier than last week. It was a much more pleasant existence when she wasn’t actively trying to ignore someone she enjoyed being around. In fact, once she had settled her issues with Loki – even if she hadn’t accepted his apology one hundred percent – Max found everything else in her world seemed to click back into place. She revised the abomination of an essay for the due date, and liked to think she would do much better the second time around. She managed to mutter some sort of apology to Ben after her freak-out on him, and as she expected he had happily accepted just about everything she had to say. Max assumed that, like her, Ben simply wanted the drama to be over with so that they could get back to normal, and that was exactly what happened. Max saw him a few times during the week, as per usual, and the first time was a little weird, but they managed to find a familiar rhythm pretty easily. 

She heard a key wedge into the lock of the front door, and Max perked up a little as Loki stumbled in, grumbling under his breath as the weather tried to sneak in with him. The earlier part of the week had been fairly cool and dry, but today and the day before had been nothing but sleet from morning to night. After Max and Loki had made the tentative reconciliation, she took him shopping for proper winter gear, as he couldn’t go around in her brother’s old stuff forever; it didn’t fit him in the slightest bit. 

“Hey,” Max greeted, glancing over the back of the couch as she watched him wriggle out of his winter jacket. “How was work?”

“Completely dead,” Loki droned as he hung his jacket on a nearby hook and proceeded to unlace his massive brown boots. “There was no purpose to me being there… We had four customers all night.”

“Was anyone else in with you?” She quickly slipped the scissors up her sleeve as he approached, and then scooted over to her end of the couch as he collapsed nearby. 

“Four other people at the cash!” Loki sneered, glaring at the McDonald’s commercial as it blared from the TV. “And the sow wouldn’t send any of us home…”

“Typical.”

“I read an entire novel from the English section,” he carried on, rolling his eyes dramatically when she glanced at him. “Are you aware that we sell books that are complete smut?”

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Did you read a book possibly related to shades of the colour grey?”

He pursed his lips for a moment, and then crossed his arms over his chest. “I thought it might delve into the greyness of one’s character… but alas…”

“It did not?” Max offered, snorting loudly when he grimaced. “You could have put it back, you know?”

“Well, I had already started it,” he muttered sheepishly. “It seemed foolish to make a final judgement until I had read the entire book.”

“And?”

“Completely ridiculous,” he insisted quietly. Max grinned at him, but before she could tease further, he reached across the space between them and snapped the bright orange hair elastic off her wrist, and then proceeded to use it to replace the nearly broken one that had currently been holding his hair up. She nibbled on her lower lip, and then turned to face him directly, an arm resting on the back of the couch. 

“We need to have a serious talk.”

“About what?” he asked, eyes still on the TV as an eyebrow shot up. “I told you I’ll do the laundry tomorrow—”

“No, no, I don’t care about that,” Max insisted. Mind you, she was down to her granny-panties, so maybe it was time to throw a load of laundry in the wash. However, it was Loki’s turn to do it, and she had to try hard to stop doing all of his chores for him. Shaking her head, she let the large pair of kitchen scissors slide out of her sleeve, and Loki flinched back when he saw them. “We need to do something about your hair.”

“Have you been waiting for me to come home with those?” he demanded as he pointed down at the scissors. 

“Yes.”

“Max,” Loki said firmly, “you are not touching my hair.”

“But it’s just… It’s getting really long,” she whined, inching a little closer and slipping her fingers through the smooth grooves of the scissor’s handles. “I mean, we don’t have to chop it all off, but we’ve got to trim it or something.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I said so, woman,” Loki sneered, shooting her a bit of a look as she scoffed at him. 

“Did you just call me woman?” Max demanded, eyebrows shooting up as he grinned. She watched him struggle to reach the remote on the coffee table, and then switched stations to the late night news. 

“Well, I had a few other choice words,” he commented dryly, eyes still glued to the screen, “but I kept myself decent for you.”

Max’s eyes narrowed a little, and she then flew forward, scissors in hand, and snipped off the base of his ponytail. 

“Max!”

“Oh no,” she sighed dramatically, the corners of her lips quirked upward as he jumped to his feet, “I slipped. Guess we’ll just have to fix the mess I made back there.” 

“I am going to end you,” he snarled weakly, fingers feeling about to see how much damage she had actually caused. She hadn’t really gotten all that much, since he jerked out of the way a tad when she lunged forward, but she had snipped enough to warrant further trimming. 

“Come on,” she laughed. “Let me fix you.”

“I don’t need fixing,” she heard him grumble as she dragged him toward the bathroom. For someone who did not want her touching his hair, he definitely wasn’t putting up much of a fight. Perhaps he realized the effort was futile, and Max grinned victoriously as she sat him down on the toilet. He squinted a little when she flicked the obnoxiously bright light on, and then fixed a glare on her as she stood in front of him. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.” She chuckled as she reached around him and pulled the orange elastic out of his hair. She tossed it in the sink, and then pulled the remainder of his hair forward. “I’m doing this because I care.”

“And you thoroughly enjoy watching me suffer,” he grunted. He seemed to want to say more, but Max smirked a little when he pressed his lips together, eyes drifting closed as she ran her fingers through his hair. It might have been long, but at least he kept it in good condition, and no knots hindered her as she brought her fingers through. 

She resisted the urge to give him a scalp massage; she knew he would enjoy it, and deep down Max would too, but she was trying to keep her feelings in check. After all, she was already standing between his legs, running her fingers through his hair… That ought to be enough for one day. Instead, Max finally just grabbed a chunk of hair and proceeded to chop it off, and then tossed it in the nearby garbage. 

“Have you cut hair often?” Loki inquired as she took off another chunk. 

“Nope,” she replied, turning his head to the side by his chin so that she could get at the hair around his ears without removing an appendage. “But it can’t be that hard.”

“I’m so reassured.” 

“Shh,” she hissed as she tossed another clump of hair in the garbage. “You’re going to look fabulous.”

“I really do hate you.”

Max laughed again, and proceeded to chop off the rest of his hair in silence, as though deep in concentration. However, the source of the silence stemmed from the fact that Loki had started fiddling with the frayed bits of her jeans, his fingers occasionally brushing against her skin whenever he plucked at a loose piece over one of the stylishly placed holes. She figured if she did talk, she might stumble over her words, or say something that made her sound like a moron, so it was best to look aloof and nonchalant as she continued to hack away at his hair. From this position, her chest was also occasionally in his face, but seeing as she was wearing one of Nolan’s old high school sweaters – still several sizes too large, mind you – Loki’s view would be fairly restrained.

Unfortunately, Max quickly learned that cutting hair wasn’t just snipping here and there until it was all one length again. Once she finished getting it all down to a fairly reasonable length, she wrinkled her nose at all the odds and ends that stuck out awkwardly. Clearly she had no professional future as a hairstylist. 

“What does it look like?”

“Uhm…” Max trailed off, running her hand over the top of his head in an attempt to smooth down some of the awkward patches. “It’s… okay.”

Loki sighed noisily as he swatted her away, and then went to stand in front of the mirror. She braced herself when he groaned, and then forced some sort of hapless grin when he glared back at her. 

“You have mangled my hair,” he snapped, pointing up at the train wreck on top of his head accusingly. “Fix it!”

“It’s just hair,” she managed, stepping toward him again and trying to give the uneven length some sort of style. However, every time she tried to smooth something over, or force it go another direction, it rebelled against her wishes and just stuck out stupidly. “We could shave it?”

“What?”

“Yeah, let’s do that!” she trilled, nudging him aside and grabbing the electric razor he bought a few weeks ago. “You can do no wrong with a buzzcut.”

“Max-“

“Sit on the edge of the tub,” she ordered. There was no point in protesting; she had already mangled his hair beyond repair, and she figured she could just trim it down to an inch or so long. She wouldn’t shave it completely, and she flicked through the gauges to find one that would trim that hair to a uniform, reasonable length. Loki seemed hesitant this time around, more so than before, but eventually took a seat when she shot him a pointed look.

“You’re lucky I humour you,” he muttered as he sat down, glaring at her as she approached. 

“Oh, am I?” Max smirked down at him, and then snorted. “What would you do to me if you didn’t humour me?”

“Terrible things,” he told her. “Awful, unspeakable, terrible things.”

He made some sort of attempt to appear threatening as he glared up at her, but it hardly seemed to have the effect he wanted. Max simply stared at him for a moment, and then laughed, “I’m sorry, I can’t take you seriously when your hair looks like that.” 

She cut off whatever else he had to say by turning on the razor, and then slipped easily between his legs again to combat the mess she had made. Once she started, Max quickly realized they should have just done this from the beginning. The razor had its own gauges regarding the length of the shaven hair, which meant it wasn’t up to her to decide for herself how long it ought to be. This was also way easier to get at the hair around his ears, and as the remainder of his hair trickled down into the bathtub, Max fell into an easy rhythm, one hand constantly cupped under his chin to move him at will. When she finished, she brushed off the loose hairs from the nape of his neck and shoulders, and then grinned. 

“This is much better.”

His arm suddenly slipped around the back of her knees when she tried to step away, and he tilted his head up to smirk at her. 

“Your turn?”

“Hell no,” she said, punctuating each word for effect. “My hair isn’t slovenly yet.”

“Mine wasn’t either.”

“Debatable,” she told him, swatting his arm away playfully. When he didn’t move it immediately, she stepped over it, careful not to knock him in the face with a knee, and then nodded toward the mirror. “Go on, have a look.”

He brushed past her to look in the mirror, and Max bit her lip, hoping a blush hadn’t shown itself yet. He looked even better now, if that was possible, and she wondered if she had made a mistake chopping off the one thing that would have put a dampener on her attraction. 

Loki made a face in the mirror again, and then leaned forward to run his hand over it. 

“It’ll look weird because you aren’t used to it,” Max insisted as she leaned back against the doorframe, arms crossed, “but it does look good.”

He gave her a bit of a look in the mirror, and she then caught a small smirk surface and realized he had caught onto her already. Well, fuck. 

“Now my head’s going to be cold,” he muttered as his gaze returned to the mirror. 

“Wear a hat, you whiner.” Max chuckled, raising her eyebrows at him challengingly when he shot her another glare. Her eyes widened a little when he picked up the discarded scissors, and then whirled back to face her. 

“Just a little off the bottom?” he suggested, snapping them at her menacingly as he took a step forward. 

“Fuck off,” she warned, holding out a hand to hopefully keep him at bay. 

However, when it was clear that he had no intention of actually stopping, Max gave a little shriek and darted out of the bathroom, barricading herself in her room for the night to avoid the wrath of the scissors. She heard Loki laugh when she locked the door, the handle rattling a little when he tried to get in, followed by silence. She waited by the door, and when she finally heard the TV turn back on form the living room, she realized he had given up the hunt. However, he was a bit of a trickster in his own right, and she decided to wait until she knew it was absolutely safe before she resurfaced. 

As she walked over to her desk, she caught herself in the mirror, and then quickly frowned. Her smile had been enormous, cheeks a little pink, and her breathing heavy; that had to stop. She slipped out of her flattering jeans and into a pair of sweats, and then settled down in bed with her laptop. Stop. Stop it, Max. Don’t think about him, or how good he looks with short hair… She pursed her lips, and then tried to see if she could catch Nolan on Skype before she fell asleep.

* * *

Loki ran his hands through his hair, and then glared up at his forehead. 

He hadn’t had his hair this short since he was a boy, and it was a strange sensation to get used to again. After all, he was accustomed to having hair everywhere all the time; it was a somewhat pleasant change to shower that Saturday morning and not have to dry anything on his head afterward. 

However, as much as he had resisted it at the time, and even though it may not have been all that appealing now, Loki was glad Max cut his hair. That been the first time all week they had done something mildly silly, and it meant that they were officially back on track toward resuming their previous relationship. It was nice that she hadn’t been pointedly ignoring him anymore, but there was still a little bit of tension in the air. However, now that he had let her hack all the hair off his head, he assumed that all was finally forgiven. Honestly, the lengths he went for this woman… 

While it would have been nice to have everything else fall back in line after he had sorted his issues with Max, that hardly seemed to be the case. He was still drowning in assignments, and had yet to get back into Ludwick’s good books, plus he spent most of the money he set aside for credit card debt on a new winter wardrobe. Unfortunately, that seemed like more of a necessity than anything else at this point, as the winter weather seemed in full force the further into the month they went. 

As much as he wanted to loll around in bed for the day, Loki forced himself out at a reasonable hour. He needed to write an essay that was due for a class on Monday, and he hadn’t even started to think about it until the night before. Max offered to lend him her laptop for the day so that he could type everything out, which was much appreciated as the assignment was for a professor who had serious issues with his handwritten work. So, even though it took him longer to clack away at a keyboard, at least he wasn’t going to lose marks again for handing in something written by pen. He wasn’t sure if he could finish it by the end of the day, but that was the general goal for now. 

He smirked a little when he heard Max’s off-key singing echo from the bathroom. She occasionally liked to sing in the shower, and he noticed she did it more often when she was in a good mood. Naturally, she sounded dreadful, even to Loki’s untrained human ears, and she would only get out a few lyrics before falling silent again. He may have teased her about a number of things, but never the fact that she liked to sing in the shower; it seemed too personal a thing for him to pick at. Instead, he pretended as though he hadn’t heard anything when she eventually resurfaced, just as she would pretend she hadn’t actually been that loud. 

He sighed softly as he stared at the Word document, nothing but his name and class title written up in the corner, and then some bland title scrawled across the top of it. He hadn’t the slightest idea how to write a reflective essay about a film he had been forced to watch, nor did he really care. However, there was a competitiveness in him that had forced him to actually try on his assignments, especially after listening to the younger students in his class brag about their excellent grades. He wasn’t about to be outdone by a gaggle of twenty-something humans, after all. 

As he continued to stare blankly at the screen, a message popped up in front of him, followed by a fairly obnoxious ringing sound that seemed similar to Max’s mobile telephone. The message continued to flash angrily at him, and he realized it was a phone call via the computer, similar to the one he had intercepted from Max’s brother some weeks ago. He glanced back at the bathroom, and then decided he could hang up and let Max call whoever back when she was finished in the shower. Unfortunately, his finger slipped over the mouse when he tried to hit the ‘reject’ button, and accidentally clicked the image linked to the ‘accept’ option. 

“Oh,” Loki murmured when an image of a slim, older woman popped up on the screen. She seemed just as equally confused to see him as he did her, and he forced some sort of weak smile as she stared. “Hi, sorry, I hit the wrong button.”

She blinked at him for a moment, and then leaned a little closer, as though scrutinizing his image on her end. Loki shifted uncomfortably, and then pointed over his shoulder. “Max is just… in the… the shower. Shall I fetch her?”

“Is she singing?” the woman laughed, a laugh that sounded surprisingly similar to that of his roommate’s, and Loki nodded. “Ah, well, she’ll be in there a while.”

“Right.”

“I take it you’re the roommate?”

He blinked at her, finding it surprisingly strange to speak to someone through the laptop screen, and then nodded again. “Loki, yes.”

“Well, it’s nice to finally put a face to all the stories I’ve heard,” the woman carried on, producing a bright green mug from somewhere off to the side and taking a sip. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude,” Loki said, “but who are you?”

“Oh, sorry, hun,” the woman remarked quickly, smoothing her scraggly brown hair down. “My name’s Nancy Wright… I’m Max’s mom.”

“Right, yes,” he acknowledged, giving what he could see of her a quick once-over and nodding, “I can see the resemblance now.”

“Sweet boy.” She snorted. “Don’t tell Max that.”

“It’ll be our secret.”

“So how are you settling in?” she inquired, pressing on without missing a beat. Loki would have preferred to simply say his farewells and carry on with his assignment, but it seemed Max’s ability to control him stemmed directly from her mother. 

“Just fine, thank you,” he replied as politely as he could, his discomfort growing when he saw her scrutinize him again. “It’s gotten quite cold all of a sudden.”

What? What was coming out of his mouth? Loki shook his head a little, feeling a touch embarrassed that he lost his dignity so early on in the conversation. 

“Oh, yes it has,” the Nancy woman chuckled, “and it’s going to get worse. Do you have the proper clothes to wear? I know it isn’t quite this cold in England.”

“Yes, Max took me shopping, actually.”

“Good, good,” she carried on, “and your classes? Are you finding them okay?”

“As good as classes can be, I suppose,” he managed, which made her grin. 

“Right, now, are you going home for Thanksgiving?”

Loki swallowed thickly at the word ‘home’, and he felt his stomach knot in an uncomfortable way. He managed to not look too put off by the question, and shook his head. “I… We don’t really celebrate Thanksgiving, actually.”

Max vaguely explained the concept of the holiday recently after he heard everyone in his classes talking about their plans for the weekend.

“So you’re just going to sit by yourself at the apartment for the holiday?” she clarified, eyebrows knitting together. Loki heard the shower shut off noisily from down the hall, and he shrugged. 

“That’s the way it looks.”

“Well, we can’t have that,” Max’s mother insisted, shaking her head at him as she took another sip from her obnoxiously bright mug. “You’re going to come here for the weekend with Max… We’ll give you a nice home cooked meal.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Loki admitted, unable to keep from grinning at the offer, “but I don’t want to intrude on a family affair.”

“Don’t be silly,” the woman admonished, waving off his concern with her hand. “My boy won’t be home this year, so I need another one to eat all the turkey I make. Bring your appetite.”

“I… Well, if you insist,” Loki finally said weakly, and he glanced over his shoulder when he heard bare feet padding along the hall behind him. Max emerged, a bright yellow towel wrapped around her supposedly naked frame, her dark hair soaked around her shoulders. 

“Who are you talking to?” she demanded as she approached. 

“Hi, sweetheart,” her mother trilled through the laptop, and Loki gave her a halfhearted grin when she glared at him. “We were just talking about how Loki is going to eat all my turkey when he comes with you for Thanksgiving.”

“Mom,” Max sighed, leaning against the back of Loki’s chair as she readjusted her towel. Loki tried hard not appear to stare, particularly with her mother watching. “I haven’t even decided if I’m coming back. You can’t just bully my roommate into coming home with me-“

“Of course you’re coming home,” the woman snapped. “You weren’t home last year, and Nolan is gone this year, so you’re coming home.”

“But—”

“Max.”

Loki held in a chuckle when he heard his grown roommate sigh, and then concede as though she was still a little girl. “Fine.”

“There we go,” her mother laughed. “Settled. Drive up on the Friday, and we’ll do dinner Sunday.”

“Okay, let us see if we can book time off work, and then we’ll tell you when we’re coming up,” Max droned. Her mother sighed, and Max pressed on, “Look, can I call you back in a bit? I just jumped out of the shower.”

“Not to worry, Loki’s been keeping me company,” the woman insisted. “Looking forward to meeting you in person, dear.”

“And I you,” Loki managed, ignoring the way Max glared holes in the sides of his head. “I also look forward to a home cooked meal.”

“Yes, I’m sure you aren’t eating well with Max as a roommate—”

“Hey,” Max interjected, pinching his arm when he laughed, “he’s actually worse than I am, if you can believe that.”

Loki tried to feign a look of hurt, but it was clear neither woman were buying it. So, a thought struck him, and he grinned a little. 

“I actually have a question for you,” he spoke up. “What is Max’s actual name? She refuses to tell me-“

Max quickly slapped a hand down over his mouth, cutting him off effectively. He tried to squirm away, but the woman managed to wrap herself around him and hold him in position. 

“Oh, this again?” her mother sighed. “Max, you have a lovely name—”

“Mom, not now,” she hissed. “Look, call you back in a bit.”

“I don’t see why he can’t know—”

“I’ll mute you, Mom.”

“This is silly.”

“Bye, Mom! I can see you breaking!”

“Honey—”

Loki managed to lightly nip at Max’s palm, which shocked her enough to give him a moment to slip loose, but she quickly slammed the laptop closed. 

“You know, the longer you draw this out, the worse it is going to be,” Loki told her as she wiped her hand on the towel. “Just tell me.”

“No,” she snapped. “Don’t Skype with my mom. It’s weird.”

“It was an accident, I can assure you,” Loki insisted. If he could have, he would have ended the conversation right when it started and left Max to deal with whatever ire that provoked from the older woman. 

“Okay, well,” she managed, readjusting her towel as Loki’s eyes swept over the fabric. “You don’t have to come for Thanksgiving if you don’t want to… Don’t let her pressure you into that shit.”

“No, no, I think I will,” Loki told her. “I think it will be quite the adventure.”

“You can’t come to my house just to dig up dirt on me,” she warned him. He shrugged innocently. 

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“I won’t let you in the car.”

“So suspicious, Max,” he cooed, fluttering his eyelashes as she glared. “You must stop that… I have nothing but the purest intentions.”

“Gross,” she sneered as she turned on her heel and sauntered back toward her bedroom. Loki continued to watch her as she walked, head cocked to the side and lips slightly pursed, and then quickly shook his head when he realized he had been staring at her backside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd just like to throw this out there in advance: when I first wrote this (yeaaaaaars ago), I thought American and Canadian Thanksgivings were the same. I knew they happened in different months, but us Canadians usually do a long weekend and eat dinner sometime during that, whereas I learned after I did Thanksgiving here Americans do it on a Thursday. So. I'm not changing it. Just roll with it. There are three chapters dedicated to Thanksgiving after the next chapter, so... just go with it.


	21. Empty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, please remember I fucked up on the Thanksgiving dates for Americans. I get it. It's AU though, am I right? 
> 
> Heh.
> 
> Also I forgot how cute as fuck Loki and Max are. Currently writing the third story and there's DRAMA. Nice to go back to the fluffy days.

Max sighed loudly, and then locked her cash register. For some ridiculous reason, there were six people working at the bookstore that night, she and Loki included, and they had maybe seen ten students stroll through over the course of her whole shift. 

She wasn’t really sure what her manager was doing lately, but she was definitely overbooking people on nights where two or three would have done it. Whatever. It wasn’t her issue. However, that did mean she was fairly bored for a few hours at night, and she spent the majority of her time wishing she was back home on the couch. Instead, she and another woman named Greta were stuck behind cash registers near the front of the store, glaring at all the people that passed. St. Judith’s usually hosted a Thanksgiving dinner the Thursday before the real Thanksgiving as a way for all the students to celebrate with their friends before flocking home for real food. They hosted it in the food court with tables pushed together and genuine stuffing; Max could hear the commotion two floors above, and if she couldn’t be at home on the couch, she would have rather been up there with a good portion of the student body. 

It was nearly time to go home, and Max had just come to the point of acceptance today in regards to Loki coming with her. She was fairly sure her parents were going to embarrass her at some point, Loki was going to see stupid childhood pictures scattered around the house, and they were all going to eat some really good food. It was kind of her mom to invite her roommate home for the weekend, but it put Max on edge. With all those pesky feelings floating around, she knew she was going to spend the weekend feeling defensive of herself and her stuff, and she would essentially have to babysit Loki until they returned on Monday. After all, where was he going to go at her house when she needed to cool down and let her feelings dissipate? Would he sit with her Dad and watch football in the afternoon? The whole thing seemed kind of off-putting, but she tried really hard this week to think positive thoughts about the impending doom. 

It was going to be fun. Loki and Max usually had fun together, so this weekend shouldn’t be any different. Yup. That had to be her story, or she was going to spend way too much time being nervous about everything. 

At this point, the week had essentially wound down. Yes, there was still another day left, technically speaking, that everyone had classes, but from experience Max knew the majority of the students wrote Friday off as a day of travel to get back home. She planned to go to the class where she had to be a TA, as it was more of a job than anything, and then come home to pack a bag. She wasn’t even sure if Loki would go to class tomorrow, as a number of students had already told him it wasn’t worth it since no one else would be there. At this point, Max stopped caring if he went to class or not. He had been so much better lately with his attendance that if he wanted to skip a few here and there so that they could start their drive tomorrow afternoon, Max wasn’t about to stop him. 

She shot Greta a small smile as she popped around her cash station, and then told her she was just going back to speak with Melissa for a bit. The woman nodded in response, but quickly resumed texting as soon as she thought Max had left. Rolling her eyes, Max drifted back through the familiar store, and caught sight of Loki reading in the astronomy shelves of his section, forehead creased in concentration. His hair no longer looked quite so short after it had a week to sort itself out, but he professed to get a bit more unwanted attention from the undergraduate girls in his class now that he was without his ponytail.

Max carried on to the Information Desk near the rear of the store, the place where Melissa usually spent the majority of her time when they were open doing whatever it is she did during the day. The older woman glanced up as she approached, and then lifted her glasses up to rest atop her head. 

“Hey, is everything okay?” she asked, genuinely concerned to see Max approach. 

“Oh, yeah, yeah, totally fine,” Max insisted as she leaned against the oval desk. She fidgeted a little with her nametag as she spoke, and then proceeded to playing with the pen in her hair, “So, I just wanted to make sure we were still good for this weekend… Loki and I will be back Monday night, and then we’re back to work Tuesday.”

“I wanted to talk to him about that, actually,” Melissa sighed, clicking on something on her computer, eyes scanning whatever it was as the screen brightened. “I think I’d like him to stay back and help out around the store. I think we’re going to need him…”

Max frowned, and then resisted the urge to gesture back dramatically to the completely empty store behind her. However, she knew she couldn’t take that kind of approach with her manager. Even though she had been working with the woman for a few years, there were always times when she had to tread carefully: booking vacation time off was one of them. 

“Are you sure you can’t find someone else who isn’t going somewhere for Thanksgiving?” Max asked carefully, trying her best to appear polite and concerned at the same time. “I mean, it’s just that it’s his first American Thanksgiving, and my mom really wants to pull out all the stops. He’s been super excited for it.”

Sort of true; Loki was actually quite excited to get away from Masonville for a weekend, even if that meant going just a couple towns over. She guessed that he, like almost everyone, was feeling a bit burnt out at this point, and having a couple of days to not think about school, work, or anything in-between was a blessing. 

“I know, and I feel really bad about that,” Melissa continued, though Max could tell by the tone of her voice that she did not feel bad one bit. “But I was thinking I might show him how to work a cash register this weekend…”

“Right, well…” Max trailed off, floundering for an excuse. Melissa had already given him the time off, but it wasn’t a law that she couldn’t retract what she promised and book them in for shifts anyway. Or… well, Max assumed it wasn’t, or there would be a lot of former employers getting an earful. A thought suddenly came to her, and while she knew Loki would absolutely hate her for it, she figured this might get him some time off. 

“Maybe I’ll go find him—”

“Look, Melissa,” Max said quickly, catching the woman before she drifted back into the store to find Loki… not doing his job. “Don’t tell him I told you, but he’s got a bit of a crush on you.”

The woman blinked at her, and Max saw the slightest of tints appear on her cheeks. “Really?”

“He’s kind of embarrassed about it, and can get super shy around you,” Max carried on, not all that sure where she was going as the words flew out of her mouth, “and he really wanted to go away this weekend, but he’s been too nervous to talk to you directly about it.”

“Oh, I…”

“So, if you make him stay, I think he’ll be a bit upset, but he won’t have the nerve to say anything,” she continued, hoping to come to some sort of roundabout way that this would all make sense. “I think he’d really appreciate it if you gave him the time away. He was talking about bringing back some pumpkin pie to eat at work, and I’m pretty sure he meant to bring it in for you.”

“Wow, I had no idea,” Melissa breathed, leaning forward on the counter so that they could speak in softer tones. “He always seems so annoyed whenever he’s here.”

“Yeah, well…” Max chuckled as she shrugged her shoulders. “That’s what he’s like when he’s nervous.”

“Huh.”

“Yeah.”

“You know, I always thought he had a thing for you,” Melissa muttered as she fixed her ponytail. Max bit the insides of her cheeks to keep from commenting on it, and decided it would be best to ignore the comment for now. 

“So, do you… still want him to stay?” she asked nonchalantly. “Because I can go tell him—”

“No, no, he can have his Thanksgiving,” Melissa insisted, grinning shamelessly as she resumed typing something into her computer, “but make sure he brings me a good piece of pie back.”

“Oh, yeah, totally,” Max managed, resisting the urge to give her manager a thumbs-up as she backed away from the Information Desk. Once she was in the clear, she hurried across the store and found Loki in the same spot he had been before: seated on a stool, back against one bookshelf, and long legs stretched up across on the other bookshelf, an astronomy textbook in his hands. He straightened up a little when he heard her coming, and then settled back down when he saw who it was. 

“I thought you were an actual customer,” he droned as she approached. “They are sometimes known to venture into these parts, but it’s rare.”

“The accent is actually terrible,” Max told him, quirking an eyebrow when he tried to flip the Australian on. They been watching way too much of Natural Geographic lately, and Loki had this ridiculous habit of trying to mimic accents whenever he found one that made him laugh.

“Greta liked it.”

“Greta will like anything if it means people will leave her alone so she can play on her phone,” she insisted as she leaned against the shelf across from him, shoving his feet off in the process. “So, I did something.”

His eyes flickered up to her, and he slowly closed the book when she made a face. Setting the tome aside, Loki raised an eyebrow at her. “What?”

“I may or may not have told Melissa you have a crush on her so she wouldn’t keep you here this weekend.”

The sentence came out in a whirl, and Loki blinked up at her a few times, as though digesting what she had just said, and then glared. 

“You what?”

“It seemed logical at the time,” she whispered as he stood up and dragged her down to the end of the aisle. “She was going to make you stay, and probably you alone, to learn how to use the cash register.”

“Are you trying to ruin my life?” he demanded heatedly. “That woman does not need encouragement.”

Fuck, he was so good looking when he was irritated. Not a good thing.

“Whatever, it worked,” Max told him quickly. “You don’t have to stay… You just need to bring her a piece of pie back from the weekend.”

“I really do hate you sometimes.”

“See, when you say that, I know you mean you are really thankful I’ve got your back,” she clarified with a grin, and then poked him sharply in the chest when he rolled his eyes. “I could have left you here with her all weekend, just the two of you and the cash register, but I totally saved your ass.”

“All right, all right,” he grumbled, rubbing the spot where she had stabbed him with her nail. “Easy.”

“So, working hard back here then?” she asked after a moment or so of simply staring at each other in the empty aisle. 

“I actually found the most interesting book on space travel,” he mused as he plucked a piece of lint from her black sweater. “Do you think there is life beyond this planet?”

“That’s a deep question for a Thursday night,” Max laughed, turning away when he went for another piece on her that she knew wasn’t there. “Uhm, I don’t know. I haven’t seen much proof that there’s life outside of Earth.”

“Oh?”

“Wait, no,” she said suddenly, recalling a news story from a few years ago that had caught her attention, “I remember there was an alien down in Arizona… Thir? Thor? Thor. They did a big story on him this year after people caught him on video in New York.”

She glanced back after a very long moment of silence from her roommate, and saw him staring at the ground, his cheeks sucked in a little. 

“Did you watch it?”

“The video? No,” she admitted with a shrug. “Ben was really into it at the time, but I think I was more focused on exams than the shit happening in Manhattan.”

“So you didn’t see any of it?” he inquired. 

“Nope.”

“None of it?”

“I dunno, maybe I watched a video on Youtube at some point,” Max muttered as she flipped through the text that Loki had discarded. “Did you see it?” She looked back again when he didn’t answer immediately, and he quickly shook his head. Max shrugged. “So yeah, I don’t know what that means for life outside of Earth… I’m sure we aren’t the only planet that has the ability to sustain life.”

“Such an academic mind.” Loki sighed, nudging her out of the way to pick up the book again. “Your insight always astounds me.”

“Fuck off, Captain Sarcasm.” She chuckled. She then took a seat on the forgotten stool, legs splayed out in front of her, shoulders slumped. “Well, what’s your opinion on life beyond Earth?”

“Oh, without question,” he remarked. “There are many worlds outside of this one.”

“Oh yeah?” Max challenged, raising her eyebrows. “Name them.”

“No.”

“That means you can’t think of any,” she snorted, grinning up at him as he shoved the textbook back in its proper place. 

“I can think of many, actually.”

“Well, go on,” Max laughed, nudging his leg with her fist. “Give me one.”

“I…”

He trailed off at the sound of heels approaching, and Max was quickly on her feet when Melissa rounded the corner and into their aisle. She came with a mop and bucket in hand, which was never a good sign, and Max suddenly braced herself for the onslaught.

“Someone puked in the bathroom,” she informed them, holding out the mop. “Guess the turkey upstairs wasn’t sitting well… They just missed the toilet.”

“Awesome,” Max muttered, wrinkling her nose a little at the thought. Loki seemed to share the sentiment, but he remained silent at her side, his gaze fixated on the mop. 

“So, any volunteers?” Melissa offered, raising her eyebrows at both of them. 

“Nope,” Max said quickly. “I should get back to my till.”

“Everybody else is on break,” she heard Melissa say apologetically, followed shortly by Loki’s rather strained response as she strolled out of the aisle. 

She hurried back to her cash register to make her excuse seem a little more legitimate, and she spotted Loki stalking out across the store a few minutes later. She smirked at him as he glared at the offending bathroom door, and then leaned across the counter at her register. “Lookin’ good with that mop.”

He paused briefly to shoot her a malicious look, and then carried on without another word as she snorted noisily. It seemed Greta was also on break, which meant she had the run of the front of the store for the next half hour. They had another hour or so to go until they could close the doors to the bookstore, and Max predicted not a single soul strolling during that timeframe. 

Loki resurfaced almost violently from the bathroom a minute or so later with his shirt pulled up over his nose, and he leaned back against the wall nearby, eyes closed. Max smirked as she watched, and could only imagine just how horrible their single bathroom smelled now that vomit had been festering for… well, who knows how long. She wanted to feel bad for Loki, but seeing as she had worked just about every crummy job available to her during her teen years, she had already had her fair share of disgusting bathrooms and vomit to clean; it was Loki’s time to shine. 

“Yum,” Max called. She then nodded toward the bathroom door when he narrowed his eyes at her from across the way, the distance just far enough that she had to raise her voice. “That seems like a good time.”

“I will end you,” Loki threatened, grasping the doorknob a little dramatically, tucking his shirt back over his nose, and disappearing back inside. 

“Make sure to spray some air freshener when you’re done,” Max shouted quickly as the door slammed shut behind him. She then snorted and settled back onto a nearby black stool, legs just grazing the floor as she fiddled around with her cash drawer for a while. Seeing as she did not expect to get any more customers for the night, she commenced counting down her float. 

However, she may have been a little too hasty, and actually flinched noticeably when someone cleared their throat in front of her counter. Thankfully, it was a familiar face smiling down at her, and she let out a sigh of relief as she shut her register noisily. 

“Happy early Thanksgiving,” Ben greeted, dressed to the nines in a dress shirt, green tie, and dark fitted slacks. His hair even looked combed. He then produced a small plate from behind his back, which was loaded with her favourite stuffing and gravy, followed shortly by a turkey stuffed animal. “I won the raffle this year.”

“Well, aren’t you just a gift-giver,” Max chuckled as she pulled the plate toward her, eyeing the stuffed animal a little warily. “He’s cute. You should make him your house mascot.”

“We’ve already got Harriet,” he admitted as he shoved his hands into his pockets. “I think she might get jealous.”

“The rat that occasionally lives under your patio does not count as a mascot,” she told him playfully as she stabbed at some fat pieces of stuffing with the purple plastic fork. “How did you know I’d be working?”

“You told me, remember?” Ben remarked as she tried some of his gift. She moaned softly as soon as the deliciousness touched the first taste bud, and his smile grew exponentially at her appreciative noises. “I figured you would be a little upset to miss the dinner again, so I saved you a plate of stuffing.”

“Thoughtful,” Max commended as she chewed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Loki stagger out of the bathroom again, mop and bucket in hand, and she tried really hard to keep her attention on Ben. “So, are you going home this year?”

“I’m volunteering at the shelter tomorrow and Saturday night, but then my sister is going to pick me up Sunday for dinner,” he explained. “You?”

“Yeah, my mom sort of forced me,” she sighed, and then scooped another forkful of stuffing in her mouth, “and then invited Loki too. So… I sort of have to go now.”

“Oh…” He trailed off suddenly, and then drummed his fingers on the counter, seemingly more fidgety than usual. “Well…”

“Yeah, I’d rather stay,” Max rambled on when she felt the awkward start to build in the air, “but you know… when Mom wants something, she tends to get it.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

She winced when she remembered Ben’s parents divorced a few years ago, and he hadn’t actually seen or heard from his mom since. 

“Do you want some stuffing?” she asked quickly, holding up the plate for him to see that she was offering him some of the best bits with gravy. He shook his head. 

“No, I think I’m all stuffing-ed out for tonight,” he insisted. “I should… I should get going. I don’t want to get you in trouble.”

“Yeah, my manager’s really in a mood tonight,” Max lied, hoping he didn’t notice the completely empty store and no manager in sight. “I’ll see you tomorrow for class?”

“Sounds good,” Ben said, tapping the counter twice before turning away. She watched him hurry out of the store, and then slumped back down on her stool, shoveling the rest of the stuffing into her mouth. She thought they might have gotten over their occasional awkward moments after Halloween, but apparently that was going to take some time. 

Still, it was kind of sweet that he brought her something down. Unexpected and sweet. However, she definitely didn’t need the turkey stuffed toy, but for some reason or another hid it when Greta returned from break. Time crawled by after Ben left, and now that she was confined to her cash when two random girls decided to peruse the small fiction section nearby, the boredom was pretty overwhelming. Eventually, Melissa shut the doors for the night, and Max drifted to the back room with Greta to count their tills. Over the course of her shift, she sold three things, and somehow was off four dollars. However, it could have been worse, and Melissa didn’t mind if they were over or under, so long as it wasn’t more than ten dollars. Therefore, she was in the clear. After both she and Greta counted each other’s floats, Max hurried back to her register and grabbed the turkey, which was currently hanging out beneath the counter, and then decided to wait for Loki in the change room.

He eventually strolled in about twenty minutes later, well after everyone had already left, and Max glanced up at him from her bench. She had wasted the time away playing games on her phone, her puffy winter jacket making her sweat a little. He seemed to have recovered from the vomit incident, but there was still a scowl on his lips. 

“She made me tell her all about my Thanksgiving plans,” he grumbled as he retrieved his jacket from his locker. “I’ll never hear the end of it now… You’ve doomed me.”

“Oh, you’ll be fine,” Max sighed, rolling her eyes a little as she shoved her phone in her pocket. “Let’s go… The Hell’s Kitchen season finale is on tonight.”

“Joy.”

“Hey, you know you want to see who wins just as much as I do.”

He merely grunted in response, and Max frowned a little; was he actually upset with her for what she did with Melissa? Maybe the events of the night simply took a toll on his sanity, and she followed him out the back exit in silence. They walked next to one another through the cold toward her car, and halfway there Loki glanced down at her. 

“What is that?”

“Oh,” she held up the plush toy for him to see. “Ben won it and… gave it to me.”

She heard him chuckle softly. “How gallant.”

“You need to stop teasing him,” Max ordered as they approached her car. 

He said nothing on the matter, and instead waited for her to unlock the vehicle in silence. Once she did, he threw his bag in the back, and Max set the turkey stuffy in the rear window, just in case Ben was ever in her car. However, just as she was about to get in, she caught sight of Loki’s irritated gaze once more, and she offered him something she quickly realized she might regret. 

“Hey,” she started, forcing him to stop just as he was about to slide. “Do you… Do you want to drive the car home?”

She almost cringed when the words left her lips, because Loki lit up like a bunch of obnoxious Christmas lights. He slammed the door shut and hurried over to her side, slipping a little on a patch of nearby ice. 

“Yes, yes I would like that very much,” he whispered, tugging at the keys dangling from her hands. 

“Because, I mean, I did say I would teach you,” she said slowly, a little hesitant to let go of her keychain. It was more like she was justifying the action to herself than to him; he just looked so happy all of a sudden. “You have driven a car before, right?”

“Something like that.”

“Okay, well,” she sighed as she finally released the keys. “We’ll go really slow… There shouldn’t be many people on the roads, but if the ice throws you, we’ll switch.”

“Excellent.” 

He almost bounced into the front seat once she moved out of the way, and Max hurried around to the other side. Once in, she immediately latched herself in with the seatbelt, and then snapped for Loki to do the same. 

“Okay, so the first thing you do is check your mirrors,” she told him, only vaguely remembering what she had learned almost ten years ago in her driver’s education class. “You need to be able to see through the back and out the sides… You know, maybe we shouldn’t do this at night.”

“It’s fine, Max,” Loki stated as he shifted the mirror around in front of him. “You really don’t need to panic. I’m sure this is perfectly simple.”

Max shot him a look as he turned the key in the ignition, her trusty old car humming to life. 

“So, gas on the right, brakes on the left,” she instructed. “You don’t need to push hard… a light tap will do. We’re going to stick to about twenty for you tonight.”

Was this a bad idea? After all, he hadn’t driven a car before, and there she was getting him to drive at night with icy roads; she was a horrible influence. Max clutched the seatbelt across her chest as the car lurched forward, and Loki gave something of a pleasant laugh at the car’s response. 

“Gentle taps,” she reminded him as she tried to loosen the seatbelt’s death grip on her. “There we go… Now, turn the wheel slowly and fully. Make sure you stop at the stop signs—”

“Max, I’m not a complete simpleton,” Loki insisted as he brought the car to a smooth stop at the edge of the parking lot, glancing in both directions before heading out into the actual road. “I may not have driven before, but I’ve been watching you for weeks now. I’m a fast learner.”

“And modest at that,” Max muttered, wincing a little when they swerved into the other lane. “Just… look far ahead, and try to stay in our lane.”

“But there isn’t anyone on the road.”

“I know, but we have….” She reached over and turned the wheel sharply to keep him from drifting, “We have to obey most rules even if there isn’t anyone around. Most of the time. Stay straight.”

Max wasn’t really all that sure if she should be surprised that Loki was a fairly decent driver. Yes, he drifted, and he wasn’t the greatest at keeping his speed at one level, but that could all be worked on. The ride was mercifully short, less than ten minutes, and Loki soon had the car rolling into their familiar parking lot. He managed to get the car in a parking spot without much difficulty, but doing it in an empty lot with no other cars around was bound to make it look easy. 

“Okay, so that… That wasn’t terrible,” Max admitted once he finally turned the car off. There was still a lot of tension in her body as she sat there, and she let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. “We can try some more driving on the country roads tomorrow when it’s actually daytime… There are some gravel shoulders I can throw you on.”

“Sounds exciting.”

“Actually, let me think about it,” Max said quickly when she saw his enthusiasm grow. “No promises.”

He shot her a bit of a lopsided grin, and she rolled her eyes: men and their machines. Max pushed the passenger door open and clambered out, and then let out a bit of a shout when she stepped into an icy, yet half-melted, puddle. It soaked right through her shoes and ate into her socks, the frigid water chilling her immediately. 

“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Max grumbled, shaking her feet as she climbed out of the wet mess. 

“What did you do?”

“I stepped in a puddle,” she whined, glaring at Loki as he strolled around the car. It was his fault for picking such a stupid parking spot. 

“Well,” he chuckled, glancing down at her feet as he shoved her keys into her hand, “allow me a moment to be gallant then.”

She arched an eyebrow when he turned back and crouched down. 

“But my feet are already wet,” she protested weakly. 

“Just get on, will you? I look ridiculous.”

She bit back her smirk as she hopped up onto his back, wrapping her legs carefully around his torso and her arms loosely around his neck. Most of the time Max wasn’t a fan of letting people carry her, since she always worried about being too heavy. However, he barely made a sound when he readjusted her to his comfort. 

“Oh, your bag,” she protested, recalling that it was still in the backseat. 

“I don’t need it,” he told her softly. “Nothing in there that I really need tonight.”

She nodded, and then swallowed hard as they carried on toward the apartment building. Against her better judgement, she let herself lean in a little, her chin resting against the side of his head as he walked. When he said nothing of it, Max wrapped her arms a little more snugly around him, and smiled when he slipped his hands beneath her kneecaps, holding her until they reached the front door. They stood there staring at it for a moment, and Max finally shifted enough to wiggle her keys from her pocket. Loki then leaned down just low enough so that she could jam the proper key in the lock, and soon enough for they were inside, where he promptly set her down. 

It was difficult to hide the soft smile from her lips as she kicked off her shoes and dragged off her sodden socks. She wanted to see if Loki had the same smile, as she suspected her might, but he faced away from her as he removed his jacket and boots. So, Max opted to let it be for now – why ruin the moment? She hurried back to her room, glancing at the clock over the stove along the way, and quickly changed into her comfortable sweats for her Hell’s Kitchen finale that started in less than four minutes. 

When she returned to the living room, Loki already had the TV on to the proper station, and she grinned as she threw a bag of popcorn in the microwave. 

“It’s starting.”

“I can watch from the kitchen, you know,” Max told him as she leaned against the island. “It’s all one room, in case you haven’t noticed.”

“I can’t believe I’m watching this…”

“Shut up, you love it,” Max mused, eyes glued to the TV as they recounted what had happened on the last episode. “Want butter on the popcorn?”

He was silent for a moment. “Can you add salt too?”

“I spoil you,” she sighed, and he smirked at her from the couch as she readied their post-work meal. It was all perfectly prepared by the time the show got through the opening credits and the catch-up bit from last week, and Max plopped down on the couch next to Loki with a giant bowl of buttery, salty goodness between them. 

Neither of them commented on the fact that they sat in the middle of the couch, her folded legs just barely touching his as they rested on the coffee table. Instead, Max focused solely on the TV, absently shoving pieces of popcorn in her mouth as her season finale played out before her.

* * *

“Can someone tell me why the hell I’m standing in some shithole in Bangkok?”

Fury’s gaze swept across the team of agents standing in front of him, and Natasha tried her best to keep from smirking. She folded her arms across her chest, her gaze stoic; she too wondered what might have been important enough to drag her out of vacation two months early. 

Aruba was nice this time of year.

“We’ve found something that the agency needs to tackle immediately,” Agent 22, a rookie if Natasha had ever seen one, insisted as he forced his team to part. Behind them, atop a table with only three legs, lay a body covered with a dirty sheet. The traffic roared outside, and she quirked a thin eyebrow at the man in the dark room. 

“I think a phone call would have been just fine,” Fury snapped as he stalked across the room. “Shockingly, 22, I have other cases to deal with. You are not my number one priority.”

“Yes, Directory Fury,” the man rambled, hurrying along after him, “but this is a serious problem… I thought you would need to see it yourself so we can proceed immediately.”

Sighing, Natasha crossed the room at a leisurely rate, and then came to an abrupt halt when the stench of rotting flesh hit her. Normally that scent was enough to clear an entire room; why had she only just detected it now? She glanced at Fury, who, as usual, seemed oblivious to the discomfort, and then watched him rip the sheet off and toss it aside. 

As she had predicted, a body lay strewn across the table, but it seemed… off. Natasha hurried forward, standing next to her current employer as she surveyed the dead man. He appeared to be a Thai local, but there was something wrong with the hue of his skin. It was far too brown, yet sickly, and there were bright yellow rims around his eyes. 

“Should I be breathing this air right now, 22?” Fury demanded as his one good eye roamed the body. “What am I looking at?”

“At first glance, it seems to be just another dead body,” the agent insisted, nudging Natasha slightly to the side to get closer. Her eyes narrowed as he pulled on a pair of rubber gloves, and then dragged open the closed eyelids. Nothing stared out at them. Instead, Natasha saw darkness. 

“Sometimes the eyes are removed as a form of torture,” she commented absently, unaffected by the sight. “Occasionally it’s to send a message.”

“Everything inside is missing,” the agent continued. She watched him crack open the jaw, bringing forth another foul odor, but clearly revealing no teeth or a hint of a tongue. “Everything.”

She watched as the agent produced a knife, and then, without warning, sank it into the body’s chest. He then sliced it along as though running a knife through butter, and proceeded to pull the chest cavity apart. Sure enough, it was hollow: no organs, barely a set of ribs – they could see clear to the back. 

“It’s like it’s a… shell,” Fury muttered, reaching forward and tentatively touching the skin with a gloved hand. 

“We’ve found a few more in several neighbouring countries,” 22 explained. “We think something is living in them… Sources say this man was seen walking about just a day ago.”

“Invasion of the Body Snatchers?” Natasha mused, more to herself than anyone, and she frowned when the new agent nodded vigorously. 

“That’s what we were guessing…”

“Is Thor still… here?” Fury asked her, eyebrows knitting together as he surveyed her. Natasha scoffed. 

“Sir, I was in Aruba until this morning,” she told him. “I don’t know where anyone is.”

“Well, maybe we should check,” Fury told her quietly. “See if he knows of any species that might inhabit bodies.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” she insisted when she spotted 22’s somewhat smug grin. “This could still be local gang work. We should investigate more.”

“That’s why we rented you a room, Agent Romanov,” 22 told her, tossing a key across the body at her. “Welcome to Bangkok…”

Her eyes narrowed again as she caught the key.


	22. It's Friday, I'm in Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a special treat, you guys get four updates this week!

“Okay…” Max sighed, tapping her fingers on the roof of the car as she leaned against it, her door open, and stared back at the locked apartment across the parking lot. “Have we got everything? Keys, dinner clothes, gloves…”

“Either get in or shut the door,” Loki snapped from inside the car, and she smirked a little when he slipped a finger through the belt loop of her jeans and gave it a sharp tug as though to drag her in. “You’re letting all the warm air out.”

“All right, I’m coming,” she said, rolling her eyes and swatting his hands away as she slid down into the front seat. He settled back into the passenger side, and then cranked the heat up to its full potential, his glare only lessening when she finally closed the door. 

So, the weekend had finally arrived – it was officially Thanksgiving. Most people considered the holiday to stretch from Friday to Monday, which would explain why there was almost no one in any of the lectures she went to that morning. At first, she had planned to skip everything and have a nice, leisurely morning in bed to prepare for a weekend balancing Loki and her parents. However, a rather whiny text from Ben about no other TAs showing up for their class managed to drag her to campus, even if it was only for a few hours. Loki, on the other hand, spent the entire morning sleeping, and hadn’t actually surfaced until about twenty minutes before they planned to leave. 

He seemed refreshed, which meant they were in for a pleasant drive to her parents’ house, but that was quickly soured when he realized just how cold it was outside. However, she wasn’t going to let the frigid air get them off to a rough start, so while Loki packed a bag for the weekend, Max zipped off to McDonald’s to grab them something to munch on for the trip. When she returned, Loki managed to throw a few outfits into a bag, and added another when she told him her parents liked to dress a little nicer for Thanksgiving dinner. 

She couldn’t quite pinpoint what she was nervous for, but something about the weekend felt ominous. Maybe it was the fact that she was bringing a boy home for the first time, because although they weren’t actually in a relationship, it still felt like Max was introducing her boyfriend to her parents. That in itself was enough to make her anxious, but she tried very hard over the course of the morning and early afternoon to get that thought out of her head. They may have been flirty together, and the attraction toward him was back, but Max and Loki weren’t dating, so she needed to relax. 

There was also a fairly small part of her that was worried about Loki’s reaction to her family and her childhood home. As much as they irritated her from time to time, she loved her parents, and she worried Loki may not be able to see how cool they are beneath the layer of awful Dad Jokes and Mom Nitpicking. 

Plus he was going to see pictures of her in that awful, awkward teenage phase where she had pretty bad skin and braces… and a terrible fashion sense. So, there were a number of things that made her want this weekend to be over and done with already. Max couldn’t deny the fact that she was a little excited to have definite time alone with her roommate in a setting where they would be forced together with minimal distractions. It certainly wouldn’t be good for her resurging crush, but at least she would enjoy herself. She already had a selection of movies lined up for tonight, followed by lots of other silly things that she and Nolan usually did on Thanksgiving… None of which had been shared with Loki yet, but she was sure he would also enjoy. 

Well, he wouldn’t be given much of a choice, so he would either have to enjoy them or be a miserable ass for four days.

“Did you get any of those extra burger sauce packets?” Loki inquired as she buckled herself in. She shot him a look and saw that he was already well into the large bag of McDonald’s food. 

“Yeah, shove your face to the bottom and you’ll find the Big Mac sauce,” she told him, pointedly nodding down to the way he somehow managed to fit both arms in the bag during his quest. He seemed to attack it with a little more dignity now, and Max snorted. After shooting their apartment one final look, Max rolled her car gently out of the vacant parking lot, and then turned out onto the main road. 

Masonville was quiet as they drove through, and she spent some time fiddling with the radio station until she tuned into something she liked. The habit normally drove Loki insane, but he seemed too engrossed in his burger to care about her song selection. When they flew through the final intersection of the town, Max snatched the bag of fast food off his lap and set it on hers, eyebrows up as he tried to protest with a mouth full of food. 

“I seem to recall that I actually bought this,” she mused, shoving her hand in and grasping a handful of fries, “and I’d like to have some before it’s gone.”

“I wouldn’t have eaten the whole thing,” he grumbled lightheartedly, smirking at her when she looked at him skeptically. “See, I left all the… French fries for you.”

“Yeah, and you managed to eat both burgers.” Max laughed in disbelief. “Did you chew any of that, or did it just go down whole?”

“Chewing is trivial,” Loki joked, and she saw him turn the heat down a little out of the corner of his eye. “It wastes time.”

“And, you know, saves you from choking,” Max commented, slowing the car at a stop sign. She leaned forward, spotting several trucks barreling down on them, and opted to let them pass before carrying on to the first of many country roads that would bring her home. She heard Loki suck his fingers clean noisily before crumbling up both burger wrappers and then tossing them in the backseat. She munched on the remainder of the fries happily, eyes following each truck as they raced by, and when it was finally clear, Max pushed onward. 

“So,” he started, smacking her hand away when she tried to change the radio station again, “are your parents the only ones I’ll be meeting this weekend?”

“Yeah, thankfully,” she replied, her stinging hand back on the wheel. “I don’t think you could take the entire family in one go… but, just a warning…” She trailed off, trying to find a way to put it without making her parents seem too weird. “They’re a lot to take at first. Well, not really, but Mom nags and Dad has a whole arsenal of bad jokes that he likes to toss around.”

“Are you embarrassed by your parents?” 

Max tried not to watch as he unzipped his jacket and wriggled out of it, knowing she would definitely drift into the other lane when she saw him in his crisp button-up shirt. 

“No, not really,” she told him as she forced her eyes back on the road. “I mean, yeah, sometimes, but everyone is. Just… give them a chance to warm up to having you around the house.”

“I go with no preconceptions, I assure you.”

“Yeah, you say that now,” Max chuckled. When a song she actually liked started, she reached forward to turn up the volume, and then hissed when he slapped her hand again. “I’m turning it up, not changing it!”

“Well, I can never be too sure,” he sighed, turning his gaze out to the vast fields and scattered clumps of trees on his side, most of them covered in a very thin layer of dirty now. “You’re very fickle, Max.”

“Whatever,” she remarked, and she heard him chuckle softly at the response. 

At this point in her life, the drive between Masonville and Eastmont was something she could do without actually paying much attention to the road. She knew all the stops, turns, lane merges, and sneaky shortcuts necessary to cut the forty-five minute drive down by about ten minutes. However, Max wasn’t necessarily in a rush to get anywhere today, but the thickening clouds above might force her to take the few shortcuts anyway.

“Do you think I could drive for a bit?” Loki inquired after a lengthy silence, nothing but the radio humming between them. She glanced at him and his eyebrows shot up, a rather charming smile forming out of nowhere on his lips. “I’ll be extra careful…”

Max glanced up in her mirror to check for cars lurking behind her, and then nibbled her lower lip in thought. “Well…”

“You said—”

“I know I said I would teach you,” she said quickly, shaking her head, “but it seems a bit slippery today.”

“Yes, and it was last night too, but I was fine.”

“Don’t pressure me,” Max whined, which earned her another laugh. However, every time she looked at him, he had that stupid giddy grin on his lips that made it impossible to refuse him anything. She sighed dramatically, and then shook her head again. “Well, I guess the only place we can end up is a ditch.”

“Excellent—”

“But if you put my car in a ditch,” she warned dangerously as she pulled over, “I will leave you out here to die.”

“Fair trade-off,” Loki quipped as he undid his seatbelt, hurrying out of the car the moment she brought it to a smooth stop. Seriously, guys and their love for cars were a bit ridiculous. Max hesitated for a second or so, her hands wrapped tightly around the wheel as she watched him cross around the front of the car, but she gingerly eased out when he opened the door for her. 

“Don’t speed,” she ordered, poking him in the stomach sharply enough to make him grunt. “I’m not afraid to leave you out here.”

“You’re a terrible teacher,” he said as he clambered into the car. “Fear is not conducive with good learning.”

“Fuck off and put your seatbelt on,” Max snapped, pointing at the belt menacingly as he slammed the car door. She raced around to the other side of the car and slid in just as another car came up behind them. “No, wait until he passes.”

“But—”

“No.”

Loki sighed noisily, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as Max buckled in. Once the car was at a safe distance up the fairly straight, empty road, Loki’s head swiveled in her direction, and she nodded. However, the car went nowhere, even when he slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, and he shot her another look. 

“Parking break,” she chuckled, making a show of tugging it down as he glared. “I figured you’d want to book it once you got in the driver’s seat… No more than fifty, understand?”

“No fun at all, Max, no fun,” he cooed, batting his eyelashes a little as he steered the vehicle back onto the road. “You have such little faith in me… Another sign of a poor teacher.”

“Maybe the student should stop being cocky.”

“It’s hardly being cocky when one is skilled,” he commented smoothly, and Max folded her arms when he looked at her, the teasing obvious in his voice. He grinned when her eyes narrowed, and she found it hard to even pretend to be irritated with him. After all, he was right – he seemed to be perfectly able to drive a car with minimal guidance, which made her think he might have fibbed when he said he hadn’t driven one before.

“Okay, well, we’re going to practice not crossing over into the other lane,” Max said quickly when she felt the car start to drift. “I know there’s no one here, but you can’t use both lanes.”

“That’s where I find driving ridiculous,” Loki told her as he steered back into the appropriate lane. “Why can’t I drive wherever I please?”

“If everyone did that, the roads would be a clusterfuck of scrap metal and wheels,” she insisted after she took a quick glance at the speedometer. “Slow down a little… just ease off the gas. You don’t need that much pressure to make the car go.”

“It hardly feels like it’s going at all,” he droned. He then proceeded to play with the signal switches, eyes on the dashboard as different buttons lit up. Max reached over hastily and turned the wheel as they started to drift toward the ditch. 

“First rule,” she told him in a flustered tone, “is that we keep our eyes on the road. You can play when we stop.”

“There seem to be a plethora of unnecessary gadgets here,” he commented as he turned the windshield wipers on and off, “and none of them seem to be useful in defense.”

“Defense?” Max snorted, and she saw him grimace a little. Maybe that was more of an inside thought than one he wanted to express verbally. “What do you think this is? A Bond car?”

“Well,” he started, wrinkling his nose a little as he tried to readjust himself, “I thought… How do you even sit in here? My knees keep knocking against the top here.”

“It’s because you’re a giant,” Max laughed. She cleared her throat awkwardly when he did not return with the usual amused grin, and then unbuckled her seatbelt. “You have to adjust the seat… Here, I’ll push it back for you, but I’m not doing much else because I’m taking over soon.”

“But—”

“We’re coming up to the turn off, and you have no idea where to go,” Max reasoned. She glanced up in the mirror; there were so many tidbits and lessons she should be telling Loki about driving, like always looking in the mirror and checking for a blind spot, but that was for a real teacher… She was just giving him a feel for being in a car. However, he clearly did not need an adjustment period like most did – he was a natural behind the wheel. 

It wasn’t until she was propped up on her knees and leaning across the car that she realized to anyone outside it might look like she was about to give the driver a… well, a good time. Her cheeks tinted a tad at the thought, but as he glanced up at her, she ducked down and pushed on the small handle beneath her seat, which immediately propelled Loki back. He groaned happily, and then grinned. 

“I feel like I can breathe again.”

“Okay, relax,” she told him, smirking as she settled back into her seat. “You’re not that much taller than me.”

“I’ve got at least a head… possibly more.”

“And that’s why I called you a giant.”

“It was really clever of you,” Loki droned. “I thought if I ignored it, you might not elaborate on it… and yet here we are.”

“I’m witty as fuck.”

“Another classic example.” He chuckled. “Can I expect more of those gems over the course of the weekend?”

“You’re feisty today,” she said as she pointed to the side of the road. “Now push the lever to your left up… Yeah, that turns on the signal, and pull over.”

“Already?”

“You gunned down the road way faster than the speed limit,” Max insisted, still pointing to the side of the road. “We need to turn off soon… Over. Now.”

“Can I drive again soon?”

“I don’t know—”

“Well, I don’t know if I can pull the car over until I get an answer…”

“Are you holding me hostage until I agree to let you drive?”

“Possibly.”

She rolled her eyes, and then sighed. “Fine! We’ll do a couple of hours on these sorts of roads again next weekend… Happy?”

“Sometimes.”

“You’re such a queen,” she laughed, and then pinched the portion of his arm closest to her. “Pull over.”

“All right, all right,” he laughed. “Relax.”

Max waited until he pulled over before she breathed again, as he ventured incredibly close to the edge of the ditch. When she tumbled out of her side of the car, she found she was on a bit of an angle, and decided Loki was going to practice on solid, flat ground from now on – she didn’t need to call a tow-truck to come rescue them because Loki parked in a ditch. 

She hurried around the front of the car, then let out a shriek and leapt away after Loki slammed on the horn when she was directly in front of him. 

“Hey!”

“I was merely testing all the buttons while we were stopped,” he insisted, hands up in self-defence when she yanked open his door. “I was not aware—”

“Get out,” she ordered, still a little shaken despite the grin on her lips. “You’re done for the week.”

Loki was quite slow in unbuckling his seatbelt and stretching his long legs out of the car, but he hurried along when Max gave him a push. When she was finally back in the driver’s seat, she felt like she was sitting in the trunk. Her eyes casually flicked to Loki as he passed along the front of the car, her gaze appreciative as it swept across his legs, and she quickly readjusted the seat so that it was suited for her. However, just as Loki reached for the door on his side, she tapped on the gas, propelling the car forward just out of his reach. She glanced in the side mirror and smirked a little, and continued to inch forward every time he was close enough. 

“Max!”

His cry was a little muffled, but she could still hear the frustration in his tone. After another minute or so of her slightly cruel game, Max finally stopped, and Loki yanked the door open violently enough to make her laugh. 

“So, we’re not going to be a dick and honk the horn at Max to make her scream anymore, are we?”

He snapped his buckle in moodily, and she raised her eyebrows. 

“Well?” she repeated. “Are we?”

“No,” Loki sneered, “I’ll behave.”

“Good boy,” she said with a smirk, turning the radio back up and easing back onto the road, thankful that there hadn’t been any cars or trucks rumbling along during their games. Try as he might, Loki couldn’t stay upset with her, and by the time they had turned off at the appropriate spot, he was asking her questions about a ridiculous advertisement with a cartoon cow on it stationed in some farmer’s field.

Eastmont was even smaller than Masonville, and most people never left. They had one town center, an elementary and high school, and a recreation building with the only communal pool around. There were a few streets with houses around that main center – urban dwellers – and the rest were scattered along country roads with a good distance set between each property. Many of her friends growing up had been the children of farmers, and she usually felt a little left out that her parents did not rise at dawn and drive a tractor. However, she wasn’t completely out of the loop; when she was six, her dad rented out the large plot of land behind their home to the neighbouring dairy farm, and the cows usually wandered right up to the property line to graze. When she was older, Max realized the smell was enough of a farm experience for her, thank you very much. 

However, if Loki’s slightly disinterested expression indicated anything, it was that Eastmont did not get any more exciting the longer she lived away from it. She pointed out the small grocery, the card shop, and the antiques store, as they were places where she knew the owners personally. 

“You spent almost twenty years of your life here?” he asked as they rolled by the old movie theater, the slush noisy beneath her tires. 

“Yup,” she sighed. “I’m not going to defend it… It’s small, boring, and never changes, but it’s home, you know?”

He nodded when she glanced at him, but returned to judging the old buildings shortly after. Max fiddled with the radio dial as they carried on through the one main street, hoping to find a local station that wasn’t full of static, and only stopped when she heard Loki sigh pointedly. 

Her house was only a five minute drive out of the main section of Eastmont, but it took about thirty seconds for them to be surrounded by open fields, most covered in a dusting of wet snow, and the occasional house here and there. As they closed in on the property where she spent her childhood, her stomach knotted uncomfortably. The trees thickened on either side of the road suddenly, as they always did, and Max spotted her hidden driveway long before Loki did. She turned in, switching off the radio as they moved slowly along the bumpy, unpaved driveway, winding several times through the trees. Moments later, they emerged onto the property, and she smiled at her old two-storey home. 

It used to be a one-storey place belonging to some hermit, but when they moved into it in her childhood, her dad had that old house destroyed, and they rebuilt this one in its stead. At the time, it had been a fairly modern; square, squat, covered in dark brick and stone with a green door and white trim, a garage of similar style off to the left. The porch had always been her favourite spot to sit when the weather was nice, though the fire pit in the back took precedence these days. The main floor consisted of the standard kitchen, formal dining area, and the living room. A grand staircase ran up the center of the house, which lead to the second floor where one would find three bedrooms and an office space. 

Seeing as Nolan was officially moved out of the house, her parents had changed his room into the TV room, which her mom preferred – apparently she snacked too often on commercial breaks when the TV was in the room right next to the kitchen.

When Max finally set the car in front of the garage and shut it down, she took a deep breath to prepare herself for what lay ahead. 

“This seems nice,” Loki commented after a moment or so of silence. “Will I get to see the inside sometime soon?”

“No,” she remarked, shooting him a look. “You’re sleeping in the garage for the weekend.”

“Adequate heating?”

“Of course not.”

“Excellent… Just what I like.”

“All right,” she laughed, unbuckling her belt and ripping the keys from the ignition. “Let’s get the introductions over with.”

They departed at the same time, but Max was the one to detect the sound of howling dogs first. Actually, the barking was preceded by the familiar stretch of a screen door opening at the front of the house, and she heard her mom encouraging the dogs outside; seeing as Loki was the one closest to the house, he was the one swarmed first. Max snorted loudly as she watched her roommate almost get knocked off his feet as a pack of about six full-grown huskies, all of whom howled and yipped in a greeting she usually warned her friends about beforehand. 

“Yeah, so my parents casually breed dogs on the side,” she laughed as he struggled to keep from either stumbling over or being jumped up on and subsequently falling. “Probably should have warned you…”

“Yes, that you have been the decent thing to do,” he managed to get out, but she could see a hint of a smile on his lips as the dogs dispersed in her general direction. 

Max wasn’t all that keen on animals in general; small ones, like birds and rodents, were sort of just gross, and larger ones were manageable. However, she always had a soft spot for the dogs that were raised in her house, as she got to know their personalities and quirks without worrying they might bite her. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she was never this comfortable with dogs outside the family. The breeding had started initially with Labradors, and then moved onto huskies in her teen years. 

Loki lingered with the oldest female, who stood happily against him as he rubbed her side, her tongue lolled out happily. Meanwhile, Max made a big display of jumping about and greeting each dog with more enthusiasm than she would ever give her parents, which pleased them immensely. Once they had exchanged greetings, the dogs ventured off toward the car, sniffing the ground around it and bounding off across the property. They usually didn’t have to worry about them wandering off, but she was sure her mom would send her and Loki out to round them up before they went to bed. 

“Hey, Shilah,” Max cooed as she approached the dog at Loki’s side. “How’s my best girl?”

The dog whimpered upon her approach, more of a happy sound than anything, and she laughed as her thick tail smacked against Loki’s legs. 

“She’s very… affectionate,” Loki managed as Max snuggled down into the dog’s face. 

“Shilah’s the oldest… Our original little mommy that we got when I was ten,” she explained. “She’ll probably be our shadow all weekend… She misses me and Nolan when we leave.”

Max glanced up at him and saw his eyebrows knit together; clearly he had never had a family pet, but Max could understand, because she wouldn’t give a shit about anyone else’s stories about their animals either.

“I thought I would let the dogs have their way with you before I came out,” her mom called from the porch, and Max grinned at her as she waved at them, wrapped snugly in a bright green housecoat. “You all right there, Loki?”

“Fine, thank you, Mrs. Wright,” Loki replied automatically, producing a friendly, though someone strained, smile as he returned her greeting with a wave of his own. He had asked Max what he ought to call her parents should he address them directly, and she told him it was better to be too formal than informal. 

“Well, grab your bags and get in before you catch your deaths,” her mom ordered sharply, and then disappeared back inside. 

It was only then, after she had said something, that Max remembered just how freezing it was outside; she genuinely hadn’t even felt it in all the excitement of the day. Well, not excitement… just a lot of loud noises so far while Loki smiled awkwardly to the side. Once they were alone again, save the plethora of dogs lurking, Max popped the trunk, and then shoved her bare hands in her coat pockets as Loki grabbed both of their bags. He followed her in silence around to the front of the house, and then up the rickety steps of the front porch: a porch on which there had been many high school gatherings, and under which the occasional family of raccoons had lived.

The warmth hit as soon as they were inside, and Loki quickly closed the front door to keep the heat in. As usual, Max kicked her boots off onto the fairly neat mat near the heater, which would keep them nice and warm for the next time she needed to put them on. 

“How was the drive up?” 

“Oh, uneventful,” Max replied as she slipped out of her coat. Her mom held out her arms to take both her and Loki’s jackets, and she heard her roommate rustle around a little behind her as she handed it over, “Everything still looks the same.”

“Well, you can’t expect any different,” her mom noted, blowing a piece of stray hair from her face as she gathered up the coats. “I thought we could put Loki down in the living room tonight… Dad bought a pullout sofa a few months ago that he wants to put to use.”

“Sounds good,” Max said decidedly as she glanced over her shoulder at him. “Up to your standards?”

“A spot on the floor would be up to my standards, to be honest,” Loki remarked, and Max rolled her eyes a little when her mom chuckled. “It’s a pleasure to meet you in person, Mrs. Wright.”

“Oh, you can call me ‘Nancy’, if you’d like,” she laughed, waving off the formality as she slammed the jam-packed closet closed. “Why don’t you give the boy the tour, and I’ll get some coffee going?”

“Yum.”

She watched her mom, who looked a little thinner than she normally did, disappear down the hall into the kitchen at the far end of the house, which left Max and Loki standing together in the front entryway. Max gestured out, arms extended to either side, and Loki chuckled. 

“This is very nice, Max,” he told her as he stepped around her to examine the collection of family photos around the foyer’s mirror. “You look so young in all of these…”

“Yeah, just wait,” she told him somewhat begrudgingly. “You’ll see even younger ones around this place, and definitely more embarrassing. They’ve got a shrine to Nolan and me in the TV room upstairs.”

“Well, show me around then.”

Max had expected to find more of a tease in his tone as soon as they entered the house, but she was surprised to see that he genuinely wanted to be shown around. The look in his eye when their gazes met was purely sincere, and he followed behind her graciously from room to room on the bottom floor of the house, hands clasped behind his back, and nodding along whenever she pointed something out. She showed him the dining room first, which led off into the kitchen where they found her mom leaning against a counter and hovering over a cookbook while a kettle boiled. The back porch and open yard could be saved for a later time, and they soon ended up in the living room where Loki would be sleeping. 

“So, this is it,” she told him. “We’ll set up the bed later tonight.”

He wandered about the interior of the room, which wasn’t much more than a few dark brown couches, a fireplace, and a writing desk situated in the front window. He lingered in front of the mantel for a moment, scrutinizing another row of embarrassing family photos of her and her cousins at various ages. Many people might have found the pictures overbearing, but Max and her brother had become accustomed to her mom’s incessant need to document every moment of their life when they were kids; at this point, photos everywhere was nothing new. However, it did make the house look a little too cluttered sometimes, and it was a decorating technique she did not plan to carry on into her living spaces. 

“This will do,” Loki told her after several very long moments of examining the room, and then smirked when she scoffed. “It will certainly be strange not hearing you get up to go the toilet at three in the morning this weekend…”

Max’s cheeks tinted at the thought, and she cleared her throat in an effort to detract from the blush, “Yeah, well, you’re still going to hear me, because the upstairs bathroom is right above you.”

“Oh, it’ll feel like home then.”

“You’re fucked,” she told him frankly, which earned her a bigger grin. “Come on, I’ll show you my boudoir.” 

“Your what?”

“Bedroom.”

“Why couldn’t you just say that?”

“I’m trying to get you a little more cultured.” Max laughed as she led him up the creaking staircase, the bannister full of painted-over nicks and indents from years of use.

“You certainly are not the one to culture me,” she heard him mutter as he followed her, pausing every so often to look at more awkward pictures of her along the staircase. “Why are there so many pictures of you and your brother?”

“Because they’re my babies,” Max’s mom insisted as she passed by below, a bag of trash in hand. “Kettle’s boiled when you’re done.”

“Thanks.” Max sighed, turning away as she disappeared out the front door. “My mom likes to have a reminder of basically everything we ever did floating around… Trust me, I’d rather there be nothing.”

“No, this is nice,” he insisted, catching her easily when she slipped a little on the top step. “It’s good to see love between family so openly.”

It was only then that Max realized all of the Wright family goodness might force Loki to recall whatever reason drove him away from his family, perhaps dwell on the reasons they had very little contact, and that certainly hadn’t been her intention. However, he shot her a reassuring smile as he passed, and her back tingled from where his hand had steadied her, which effectively put all worries from her mind. The next stops on the tour consisted of the narrow upstairs hallway, the new TV room (also known as Nolan’s bedroom), a quick peek in her parents’ bedroom, and finally her old room. 

“Now, this looks remarkably familiar,” Loki commented as he nudged passed her and into her old bedroom.

“Yeah, I basically just took the style of this room and transferred it to our apartment,” she said as she followed him in, hands on her hips as she surveyed the room. It looked the same as ever, though it was pretty obvious her mom had been in to do some cleaning at some point. 

Just as her room in Masonville, Max’s bedroom had a lot of purple and blue scattered everywhere, both in the paint and in the art she had accumulated over the years. There was a single bed against the wall in the middle of the space, and a plethora of old pictures tacked up in some sort of a collage. There were blue and white Christmas lights strung up around the small window and nearby closet door. She paused at her desk, which definitely looked much tidier than how she left it, and then smiled. Even with her reservations for returning, it was definitely good to be home for a little while. 

“Well now, what is this?”

Max looked back quickly, and her eyes widened when she saw Loki had discovered her high school diploma. It wasn’t necessarily well hidden, but she had forgotten that her mom had framed it and put it up. Panicked, she crossed the room in a few long strides and wrapped both hands around his face from behind in a horrible attempt to keep him from seeing anything, which made him stumble back. 

“You didn’t see…” She trailed off when she saw the ridiculous grin on his lips, and she sighed, “You saw it, didn’t you?”

“I saw the first two letters,” he insisted as he enclosed his hands around her wrists, giving them a slight tug. “You might as well let me see the rest of the name…”

She pursed her lips, and then pulled her arms back as her cheeks tinted. Of course her high school diploma would have her actual name on it, and of course she hadn’t thought to shove the evidence under a pillow as soon as she arrived. 

“Nannette.” 

“Yup,” Max groaned. She stood next to him, arms crossed, and glared at the name. “It’s not the worst name ever, I’m aware, but I just… I don’t like it.”

“Nannette…”

“Yes.”

“Nannette—”

“Stop saying it!” Max snapped, elbowing him sharply enough to make him laugh, “Can we just pretend we never saw it?” 

He looked down at her, and she raised her eyebrows. He then wrinkled his nose a little and returned his gaze to the framed piece of paper, shaking his head. 

“It leaves a sour taste in my mouth to look at you and say that,” he told her, and Max smirked. “I can’t forget it, but I won’t use it.”

“Good,” she breathed, “because I won’t respond to it.”

“What about Nanny? Or Nettie?” 

Loki managed to catch her fist before it slammed into his ribcage, and he laughed as she tried to wriggle free.

* * *

It hadn’t taken Loki long to decide that going away with Max for the weekend had been a good thing. 

Over the course of the week, he had handed in assignments, worked pointless hours at the bookstore, and even cleaned up someone else’s vomit. The thought of getting out of that horrible town and going to a place where someone else would cater to him was incredibly appealing, and despite the nervous jitters that were slightly infectious from Max, Loki might have actually considered himself excited. 

Whenever one was a guest in someone else’s house, they were always treated much better than the host would do for their own family, and Loki was looking forward to taking four blissful days in which someone else would cook all of his food, clean his dishes, and wait on any other needs he might have. Plus, getting away from his overly flirtatious manager and the hub of irritating twenty-somethings who loitered around Masonville were definite benefits. 

He certainly did not care which sort of holiday he was celebrating, but the fact that it revolved around eating massive helpings of food was quite appealing. Besides, the thought of spending some quality time with his roommate in a place where they were not hampered by the stresses of college life seemed to have its benefits. Loki, most of all, was simply curious about Max’s upbringing. He wanted to see where she had come from, what shaped her to become the woman he had grown to enjoy over these past few months. 

Unfortunately, that ventured into a territory was still sensitive, and Loki quickly realized that this might become a challenge as he watched Max interact with her family. At first they had been distant, as her father was still at work and it seemed as though her mother was more preoccupied with getting dinner ready for everyone that evening than spending much time socializing. 

So, that gave Loki a chance to examine the home of a middle-class family, and finally learn Max’s true name. ‘Nannette’ wasn’t quite the awful label his roommate had made it out to be, but after calling her ‘Max’ from the beginning, it seemed that her real name was almost too frivolous and girlish. Therefore, aside from some light teasing afterward, Loki promised not to use it in seriousness, nor would he spread the word to other ignorant souls back in Masonville. 

It was shortly after that that her father returned home from work as a teacher at the local high school, and Loki quickly saw the family dynamics that he had craved since boyhood. Obvious and open displays of affection passed easily between all three of them, and it continued to shine through whenever anyone spoke of Max’s brother off in some other country for the nation’s army. It would have been easy to slip in the background and simply watch the family interact, but Max’s father – Max – threw a curve into his plan the moment he arrived at the house. The man was, apparently, a Scot, and had grown up in the country near to Loki’s fake origins. 

“Oh, yeah, didn’t I mention that?” 

Loki resisted the urge to snap at Max when she said it under her breath, a casual shrug accompanying the statement; no, no she hadn’t, and because of that, Loki was constantly on edge for questions about his home life from a man who might actually see through his lies. 

Even with the new tension in him, Loki found it relatively simple to fit in with conversation. Max clearly learned to be social from her parents, who chattered incessantly whenever they were all in a room together. His only reprieve came when Max offered to show him the backyard while her mother, Nancy, prepared dinner. They had quite a large plot of land, but it was fenced off and rented to a neighbour for his cattle, which Max promised to show him the next day – Loki did not hold back his biting sarcasm over the event, which earned him a coy nudge from his companion. It always seemed to marvel him just how well she downplayed his sour comments with a laugh and a smile, and he wondered if she realized most of the comments had actual sincerity in them. 

No matter. It was very pleasant to be around someone who could stomach his cynicism without chastising him for it. 

Once they had walked the outskirts of the fenced area, Loki and Max drifted back toward the house, and Loki held the door open for her to enter, which she seemed to appreciate. They returned to a kitchen caked in wonderful aromas, and at that point Loki was lost to the world. Nancy had produced some exquisite pork chops, grilled vegetables, and the fluffiest mashed potatoes he had ever seen. Somehow, he and Max usually managed to burn all three dishes whenever they tried to make them at home, so he knew this was going to be a treat. 

As much as Max clearly disliked the way her mother poked fun at her cooking skills, she seemed equally excited to partake in a meal that wasn’t burned on the outside and raw on the inside. Max’s father joined them after they were all seated, having apparently just gotten off the phone with a panicked student, and apologized for his tardiness. He was a fairly small man – not what Loki had expected at all. After all, Max’s brother seemed quite robust in all of his pictures, and yet Nancy and Max (the male version) were quite slim and roughly Max’s (the female) height. Both had narrow faces, though her father had a bit of a larger nose, though the same brown eyes Loki had become accustomed to from his roommate, and a very similar laugh. The accent was a little difficult to wade through, but he seemed to manage for the majority of their meal. 

If he wasn’t talking, or pretending to listen to the never-ending conversation, Loki was stuffing his mouth. He returned for seconds and thirds, which pleased Nancy infinitely. 

“Well, I’m going to have to pick up some more food tomorrow for Sunday,” the older woman chuckled, and he caught Max shoot him an appreciative look from across the table. “Do you have anything you don’t eat, Loki?” 

“If everything is cooked like this, there’s nothing I won’t eat,” he remarked smoothly, and he heard Max’s father snort. 

“You say that now…”

“Easy,” Nancy ordered, swatting her husband in a similar way that Max did to him – something that did not go unnoticed. 

He stabbed at his mashed potatoes happily all the same, however, and savoured them the whole way down. If everything that woman made tasted this good, he ought to have four or five meals a day to compensate for the awful gruel he and Max usually produce together. He wondered if she felt the same, as she was well into her second plate too, and Loki was about to make some jest about their terrible cooking skills, but was distracted by a low whine from under the table. He glanced underneath and the dog that had shadowed them all night perked up a little, and then licked her lips. 

“Shilah,” Max warned. “Don’t beg.”

Loki couldn’t quite understand having dogs around, especially in the same room where they dined. Actually, Loki had no concept of having dogs as anything more than hunting companions or protection, and the notion that Nancy bred them to sell as pets seemed even more foreign to him. She had gone to great lengths at the beginning of their dinner to explain how the business worked, and that they were in an off season now, so they had a number of adult hounds running amok before puppies arrived. It all seemed like nonsense to him – a fanciful hobby with no real purpose – but Loki remained politely interested through the entire speech. 

“So, Loki,” Max’s father started, and he had to look at the man directly across from him in order to not lose any of the words, “where did you say you were from in England again?”

“I didn’t,” Loki replied, his exterior cool as he had the question posed that he had dreaded all evening. “My parents and I have a house up north.”

“Oh, do you?” the man remarked, eyebrows shooting up as he chewed thoughtfully for a moment. “Well, I’m from the south of Scotland… Where are you from exactly?”

“Cork.”

Loki’s lip twitched; he wasn’t exactly sure why he had said it, but he remembered the city mentioned in some class as being from somewhere in that general area. The man’s eyebrows shot up and the response, and Loki wished he had made more of an effort to research a plausible backstory. 

“Cork?” he repeated, and Max cleared her throat. “Northern Britain… Cork?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that sounds really nice, doesn’t it?” Nancy remarked. “Do you miss home, Loki?”

“Sometimes,” he replied earnestly, and he caught Max staring at him from across the table. He returned to slicing up the remainder of his pork chop with care, eager to save the best bits for last. Before Nancy could get another word in, which it was clear she was trying to do, Max spoke over her. 

“It’s hard to miss home when I’m here to distract you,” she laughed. “Do you know what we did today? I’ve been teaching Loki how to drive…”

“Good God...”

“Dad!”

Loki eased back into his meal as the conversation drifted from his fake home to Max’s ability to teach anyone to drive, which Loki definitely preferred. Even if that meant Max got a little flustered with her mother once more, he was pleased to have the attention deflected off of him. He vaguely heard the hound whine again from beneath the table, and when no one was looking, Loki slipped her a small piece of pork fat, which kept her quiet for the remainder of the meal.

* * *

“Why can’t you leave the hounds outside?” Loki inquired as Max stuffed her feet into a pair of her dad’s rain boots.

“Because the hounds might run into some wildlife which are a little bit bigger than they are,” she replied. Max still couldn’t get over the fact that Loki flitted between ‘hounds’ and ‘dogs’, and for some reason it amused her every time. 

“Well, survival of the fittest then, isn’t it?”

“Stop it… We’re getting the dogs,” she remarked flatly, and then tugged him outside by the front of his sweater. Shilah followed closely, as she had all night, but remained on the top of the porch as the pair sauntered out into the front yard. 

The treeline lit up under the bright glare of the porch lights, and the sky was still too clouded over to see any of the usual star constellations that loitered above her property. She couldn’t spot any of the dogs right away, but she could hear them running about in the woods, and it was time to bring them in for the night. Normally, this would have been her dad’s job, but seeing as he had already fallen asleep in front of the TV and it was barely ten o’clock, Max offered to do it with Loki. 

So far, things had gone surprisingly well having her roommate with her at home. Naturally, there were a lot of jokes cracked at her expense, but making fun of her was the only thing Loki and her parents really had in common at the start. As she had expected, Loki was incredibly polite with her parents, answering all their unnecessary questions and even asking a few of his own whenever there was a brief lull in conversation. She had never worried about it being awkward, as by nature the Wright family had a tendency to talk too much with guests over, but Max fretted over the assumptions her parents might make about the nature of relationship with Loki. However, they had nothing but positive comments to say when he disappeared to the bathroom after dinner; Max finally started to relax when they enjoyed a tart dessert in front of the TV. 

The fact that Loki was so good with her parents did nothing to help squash her feelings for him. Instead, they probably amplified tenfold over the course of the evening, mostly because he had been such a good sport through everything. Thankfully, he would be sleeping on a completely different floor from her tonight, and she could actually get a break to collect herself before hurdling on into the rest of the weekend. 

“Shouldn’t we be dangling some sort of raw meat to tempt them?” Loki inquired, his teeth chattering a little as he rubbed his arms. She smirked, but moments later also succumbed to the cold night air. Time to get this over with. Max quickly pulled a whistle from her pocket, and then blew it; Loki quirked an eyebrow at her when no sound came from it, but Shilah limped across the front yard to her side, shortly followed by six other bounding huskies. 

“Ugh, God,” Max muttered, wrinkling her nose at their muddy paws and snouts. “Can you run back inside and grab the towel that’s by the door? Mom will probably slaughter me if I let them back in the house like this.”

He disappeared soundlessly, and therefore left Max in charge of handling the all-too-happy dogs alone. She managed just fine, of course, but she had a few muddy paw prints on her back for her efforts. When Loki resurfaced on the porch, she called for the dogs to follow her, and then left her roommate in charge of guarding the door so that only the clean dogs got in. A few tried to barrel passed him, as they knew their food dishes would have been refilled at this point, but he seemed to handle the situation fairly well. When they were all taken care of, however, Max was covered in wet, muddy dog essence, and she glared down at her wrecked jeans. 

“Well…”

“Yes, I see why people are so keen on keeping animals as companions,” Loki droned as he slowly looked her up and down. “You’re a mess.”

“Thank you,” Max snapped, flicking the towel at him as she passed. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Always looking to lend a helping hand.”

“Fuck off.”

Loki laughed as he shut the door behind him, and Max shook her head at the clamour now coming from the kitchen as all the dogs dug into their food. Why did her mom insist on carrying on with breeding? She never really made a lot of money from it, and the dogs were definitely not easy pets to look after. However, she knew her mom did actually enjoy canine companionship more than any other animal, and she always felt safer having dogs around on the property when everyone was out of the house… So maybe there was some logic to it after all. 

“I’m going to go change,” Max told her roommate as she kicked off her dad’s boots, setting them neatly back where they had been by the front door. “If you want, we can set up your bed after?”

“Excellent.”

And with that, Loki disappeared into the front living room down a nearby hallway, and Max darted upstairs to get out of her cold, wet clothes, skipping two steps at a time as she went. When she passed the TV room, she saw that her dad had disappeared, and judging from the soft lighting trickling out from under his bedroom door, she assumed he had now fallen asleep with a book in his face in bed, which made her smirk as she passed by. 

Max quickly slipped into a pair of dry track pants and a v-neck sweater – couldn’t look too grungy with all the butterflies in her stomach – and then hurried back down the hallway to return to Loki. 

“I’m going to make myself a tea,” her mom told her as she left the TV room, all of their dirty dishes piled up in her hands. “Would you guys like something? I can make some hot chocolate?”

“Oh, yeah, sounds good,” Max agreed absently as she started down the stairs. “Do we have any marshmallows?”

“Are you still six?”

She pursed her lips. “Yup.”

“Then we do,” she heard her mom call as Max made a sharp left down a small hallway and into the downstairs living room. When she rounded the corner, she spotted Loki perched on the edge of the couch in front of the fireplace, his gaze fixed intently on the flames. 

“Dad must have started that up before he went to bed,” Max offered, nodding toward the mantel when he glanced up at her. Loki smiled a small smile, and she slowly crossed the distance between them before taking a seat beside him. She tucked her legs up under her, her elbow against the back of the couch, head resting in hand, and then nibbled her lower lip. This was the couch they were supposed to make up for him to sleep on, but for the moment she was actually happier to sit in the dimly lit room in silence, occasionally glancing up at Loki as he studied the fire. 

“This is a very nice home, Max,” he said suddenly, still fixated on the flames. “It must be very comforting to know you can always return.”

“I guess,” she said as she reached out and plucked a bit of fur from his sleeve. “I still think they should sell this place and downsize—”

“No,” Loki insisted, leaning back against the couch and facing her. “No, you should never lose something like this… You’re exceptionally lucky to have such a wonderful family.”

“You say that now,” she laughed nervously when he started to fiddle with the ends of her hair, his fingers barely there as he held her gaze. “I mean, tomorrow they’ll probably put you to work, and then you won’t have… so many nice things to say.”

It was actually a little difficult to keep her train of thought on its tracks with him touching her, and the stupid romantic lighting definitely wasn’t helping. Unable to keep his gaze for much longer without blushing like an idiot, Max turned back and grabbed the folded blanket on the armrest. She draped it across her legs, and her hands simply fell into her lap when she saw that he had inched a little closer. The blush she had tried to avoid appeared in full force when he reached up and cupped her face, his thumb trailing along her jawline. Max swallowed thickly, and then cleared her throat. 

“Uhm…”

She trailed off when the corners of his lips quirked upward slightly, and automatically closed her eyes when he leaned in. However, when she felt no lips brush against hers, only warm breath on her skin, she blinked up at him. He was remarkably close now, and Max bit back a smile when she saw him gazing down at her lips. Gone were the thoughts about their living situation, and the fact that he had hooked up with Erica a month ago. Her mind had fallen blank, and instead of analyzing the situation, or possibly taking the mature route, Max tilted her head upward and kissed him. 

It was a tentative gesture, at first, her lips very softly pressed to his, but that soon changed when his hand tangled in her hair as he nudged her closer. The tips of her fingers hesitantly danced along his cheek, and she let out a happy sigh when they mutually deepened the kiss, her arm snaking around his neck in an attempt to feel closer to him. 

It was… It was perfection in all its corny glory, and it was exactly how she might have pictured it if she ever thought about kissing Loki. 

“So, I didn’t know if you guys wanted the marshmallows inside the hot chocolate, but one fell in accidentally, so I just dumped the rest in…”

Max pushed herself away from her roommate hastily when her mom appeared in the doorway, two mugs in hand, and then tried to recover her breathing with her face glowing bright red. 

“Oh…” Her mom looked between Max and Loki awkwardly, and then cleared her throat, “I’ll just… I’ll leave these here.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Max said quickly as she deposited the mug on the nearby mantel, no doubt fully aware of what she had just walked in on. “Good night.”

“Yup, night.”

Holy fucking Hell. Max stared pointedly at the now empty doorway, her mom’s footsteps quick as they sounded up the staircase, and then groaned before burying her face in her hands. 

“Come now, don’t do that.” Loki chuckled as he tugged her hands away. “I’m sure she suspected it already.”

“Yeah, but—”

He cut her off with another kiss, and Max moved easily with him as he pulled her across the couch and into his lap, arms circled around one another, hot chocolates forgotten.


	23. Saturday, Wait

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PS: Max's dad looks like Robert Carlyle to me because he's a cutie pie.

Max woke that morning with a ridiculous smile on her lips. She sighed happily and snuggled further into the depths of her covers, eyes unfocused as she recalled the previous night. 

After the stupidly awkward encounter with her mom, she and Loki spent the better part of an hour by themselves on the sofa, she on his lap, alternating between locked lips and small snippets of softly spoken conversation. Of all the acts of intimacy out there, Max liked kissing the best. Yes, sex was more physically pleasurable when people did it right, but there was something about being snuggle up on someone’s lap and being perfect content to kiss until her lips were swollen that seemed more worthwhile. Guys may think differently, of course, and she had absolutely no clue what was on Loki’s mind at that very moment, but Max didn’t care. He seemed content to be there with her, and she was in a state of bliss, so that was all that mattered. 

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and when Max couldn’t stop yawning during their fireside chats, Loki decided it was time to call it a night. So, Max groggily fetched him a few pillows and some sheets as he struggled to turn the couch into a bed. Apparently, he simply couldn’t fathom where the bed portion lurked in the seemingly ordinary piece of furniture, and he seemed quite impressed when she showed him the easy transformation. The mattress was fairly lumpy, and there were certain spots where she could feel the spring beneath when they did a cautious testing of it, but Loki wasn’t about to complain. He had the whole floor to himself, plus the dogs, and seemed perfectly happy after she dressed the bed to dive right in. 

Halfway up the stairs, Max thought about the fact that Loki did not actually have a door to block off the living room, which meant he was probably going to get some large, unwelcome visitors at some point that night. The thought made her smirk, and she watched as Shilah hobbled down in his general direction; wherever she went, the rest were bound to follow… So Loki was going to have an awesome sleep. 

By the time she got upstairs, her parents had already gone to bed, and she cringed a little when she spotted their door. Her mom must have already filled her dad in on what she saw, and Max prepared for bed that night bracing herself for the awkward conversation that was bound to follow the next morning. However, she also gave herself a bit of a pep talk – she was twenty-six years old, damn it. If she wanted to kiss a man in her old living room, then she could! It wasn’t as though her mom had walked in on them screwing or anything, so it was harmless enough to just ignore. 

Unlikely, but Max went to bed hopeful regardless. 

The pleasant feeling carried on into the morning, and Max felt incredibly comfortable in her old bed, the tips of her fingers running along her lips as she recalled every different sort of kiss she had tried the night before. In all honesty, she had never actually thought about what Loki might be like as a kisser; for all these months, she had simply been attracted to him, and had perhaps stomped out any fantasizing for fears that it might be awkward the next time she saw him. 

At this point, however, it was fairly clear that they were beyond the friendship mark, and that could venture into awkward territory. The thought made her stomach squirm uncomfortably, but Max also knew that they were able to put his bed together last night after making-out as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened, which she liked to think was a good sign. 

When she glanced at the old purple clock on her nightstand, she saw that it was almost half passed nine, which meant her parents were definitely up and making noise in the kitchen. Although she knew Loki was a big boy and could look after himself, she wasn’t about to make him sit alone with her parents awkwardly while she lounged around in bed. No, she needed to get up and face the music before he showed his face, and hopefully calm the storm that her mom was bound to bring up before he saw any of that crazy. She knew neither of her parents would care all that much; after all, they were still sleeping in separate rooms while they were here, but she figured her mom might be offended that Max hadn’t given any indication that she and Loki were more than friends. 

Well. She hadn’t even known they were more than friends – not really, anyway. Therefore, how was she supposed to tell her mom anything? Whatever. It was time to deal with that mess and smooth it over while Loki snored away in the living room. As she rolled out of bed, she hoped that he was taking this weekend to catch up on his sleep, and she would have a good half hour or so alone with her parents before he even considered getting off of that lumpy mattress. 

So, Max threw an old high school sweater on over her ratty old t-shirt and pajama pants. After a quick pit-stop in the bathroom to wrangle in her messy hair, she crept downstairs as quietly as she could, and then followed the sounds of her mom’s voice into the kitchen. Sure enough, both her mom and dad were in there, wide awake, and leaning back against the counters with cups of coffee in hand; thus far, it was fairly routine. 

“Morning, sweetheart,” her dad greeted with a small smile, and Max grinned. 

“That’s an old one,” her mom commented as she glanced down at Max’s sweater. “I’m surprised it’s still in one piece.”

“Hey, I take care of my clothes,” Max protested weakly. She then grabbed one of her dad’s comically large mugs from a nearby cabinet, and proceeded to make a cup of coffee for herself. “How did everyone sleep?”

“That doesn’t matter,” her mom said quickly, cutting off her dad’s answer. Max smirked as the man subsided to the background with a slight roll of his eyes. “What did I walk in on last night?”

“I don’t know, what did you—”

“Max,” her mom pressed, a hint of a smile on her lips as her eyebrows shot up. “You didn’t tell us you two were an item!”

“Mom…” Max groaned, shooting her dad a bit of a pleading look as she added her hot water. “Who says that anymore?”

“That’s not the point—”

“Okay, okay,” she started quickly, sensing one of her mom’s famous rants geared up and ready to go. “Look, we aren’t an item, okay?”

“It certainly seemed that way last night.”

Her dad wrinkled his nose a little, and Max sighed. 

“Right, that’s the first time anything like this has happened,” Max continued, holding up her hands to stop both parents from talking over her. “Look, he’s a really cool guy, and I’m kind of into him, but I’m going to keep things casual because we live together, and I don’t want it to be weird. And,” she pressed further when she saw her mom open her mouth, “I don’t want him scared off because my parents get all awkward around him. It was just a kiss… Whatever. I’m not a teenager sneaking a guy into the house, so can we all just be normal please?”

“I’m always normal.”

“Mom,” Max said slowly. “Do not talk to him about it. Don’t mention it, hint at it, or make a joke about it. This is my business, and if anyone is going to talk about it, it’s me and Loki—”

“Loki and I,” her dad interjected, and then grinned toothily at her when she cast an irritated look his way. “I’m just trying to keep your grammar above par, college graduate.”

“Anyway,” she carried on, shaking her head. “Can we just… drop it, and wait for Loki and I,” she shot her dad a look, “to sort it out?”

“I don’t know—”

“We know it’s your business,” her dad insisted, “but we just want to make sure you are being treated properly, you know?”

“Yeah,” Max acknowledged, “but that’s not really your job anymore.”

“It’s always our job,” her mom told her, downing the rest of her coffee quickly, “and you brought him here, so it seems like a good chance for us to make sure everything is going well over there.”

“Guys,” Max said stiffly, pointing a warning finger at both of them. “None. Of. Your. Business. Understand? Please don’t make this bigger than it is…”

“You worry too much, sweetheart,” her dad admonished softly, and she sighed. “We’re better at this than you think.”

Unlikely, but Max decided it might be easier to let the subject drop. She shrugged in response, and grabbed her mug; the liquid had cooled considerably, but it was still tolerable to drink. At the sound of footsteps in the hallway, followed shortly by a door shutting, Max proceeded to grab two bowls from the cupboard, and then rummaged around in a cabinet for some sort of cereal. She heard her mom stroll out of the kitchen, scraping her slippers along the tile and onto the hardwood as she always did, and then greeted Loki noisily in the hall. At least she didn’t sound too awkward, but Loki’s cheery response seemed to be a little off-key. 

She frowned when she found no cereals to her liking in the cupboard, and then turned back to her dad with a box in hand. 

“Fiber enhanced?” she questioned, eyebrows shooting up, “Really?”

“You don’t get to pass judgements on my bowel movements,” he remarked, his tone mockingly serious, and then nodded toward the doorway. “Morning, lad.”

“Good morning.”

Max felt her cheeks prickle at the sound of his voice, and she turned back to smile at him, forcing her eyes to stay on his face rather than wander his body appreciatively. It definitely didn’t help that he was in a short-sleeved t-shirt, toned arms just slightly visible the farther up his bicep she wandered. 

“Well, you look even _more_ attractive first thing in the morning here,” Loki commented as he gave her a once over, and Max smirked. At least he wasn’t being awkward; it was a fairly intimidating situation he was in right now, walking into a room with the woman he had recently kissed and her father hovering nearby. 

“Rude,” Max touted in return, shaking the cereal box at him. “No fiber enhanced cardboard for _you_.”

“It’s _actually_ not that bad,” her dad interjected as he placed his empty coffee mug in the sink, and then filled it with water. “Try it.”

“I’ll make us toast,” Max insisted as Loki crossed the kitchen to lean against the counter beside her, arms folded across his chest. “How did you sleep?”

“Well, the mattress was fine,” Loki admitted as she flitted about the kitchen to prepare their breakfast, her stomach a mess of giddy excitement that they were playing cool with one another. “The dogs, however, seemed to think it was their mattress too…”

“Oh, shit,” Max chuckled, and she heard her dad laugh across the kitchen. 

“I tried to push them off—”

“That’s a losing fight there,” her dad commented, and she saw Loki nod from the corner of her eye. “If they beat me to the couch upstairs, I’m done for… Easier to get a spot on the floor at that point.”

“Yeah, it’s because Mom won’t discipline them,” Max argued as she shoved two pieces of bread in the toaster. “I mean, she had no problem yelling at us, but Heaven forbid the dogs get in trouble.”

“Well, I think you and Nolan usually _deserved_ a lot of the flack she gave you.” Max shot her dad a look, and he grinned. “All right, sometimes.”

“My mother was never the disciplinarian,” Loki admitted quietly, and Max glanced back at him, jaw clenched so that it wouldn’t fall open. He rarely ever mentioned his family, and now that he had, he seemed a little unsure of where he was supposed to go now. Max swallowed when their eyes met, and although she could picture her dad twiddling his thumbs awkwardly behind her, she focused on her roommate, eager to hear more. Instead, Loki tapped the counter twice, and then nodded toward the fridge. “May I find something to drink?”

“Oh, yeah, we have some orange juice in there somewhere,” Max told him, running a hand through her messy hair. The toaster finished with the bread, and she decided to give both to Loki, as he was technically the guest. “I’ll have a glass too.”

“Of course,” her roommate muttered, “and where might I find those?”

“Here, I’ll get them,” Max offered. Her dad raised his eyebrows as she walked by him to grab a pair of glasses and some plates for their toast, and she shot him a pointed look. He shrugged, and then nodded toward Loki, now only one eyebrow up as her roommate rummaged through the overstocked fridge. Her eyes narrowed further, and she mouthed for him to ‘stop’ before standing up on the tips of her toes to reach the dishware she needed. She turned back just as Loki managed to find the carton of pulpy orange juice, and she directed him over to the counter with a smile. “I hope you like picking pulp out of your teeth.”

“Always.”

“Means it’s healthy,” her dad interjected, and she shot him another look. 

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Always have your best interest in mind.”

“Do you want peanut butter and jam on these?” Max asked as Loki poured some juice into both glasses, all the while ignoring the fairly obvious way her dad judged them from across the tiled kitchen. Loki may not have noticed, or he was being incredibly nonchalant about it, but it was starting to irk Max a little. 

Yes, it was her parents’ house, and yes, her dad was bound to be protective, but he could let go just a bit; they were having breakfast in baggy pajama pants, not sitting in a hot tub half-naked under the moonlight. 

“Please.”

A somewhat stilted silence fell over the kitchen as she grabbed the condiments, punctuated briefly by Loki taking noisy slurps of his orange juice. She glanced back at her dad, and then nodded toward the door. She didn’t want to make it weird, but Max figured she could use five minutes alone with Loki while not under parental scrutiny to assess if he was really acting normal, or if last night had altered their friendship in some way. Her dad, however, marched halfway toward the door, and then grabbed a banana from her mom’s hanging fruit basket by the sink, and proceeded to peel it, still leaning back against the counter, eyebrows up. 

For fuck’s sake. Her eyes narrowed a little, and she then handed Loki his plate of breakfast. He grinned a grin that looked fairly genuine, and then shoved the corner of one piece into his mouth while she set two more pieces of bread in the toaster for herself. 

“So,” Max started, finally breaking through the bread munching and juice slurping, “Nolan and I usually go buy the wine for tomorrow night today… Want to do that after breakfast? The store usually runs out by the afternoon.” 

His eyebrow quirked upward, mirth in his eyes, and he cleared his throat. “Really?”

“Are you surprised?” She laughed. “This town is the size of our apartment.”

Loki chuckled, and then nodded. “I suppose… I can’t say I know much about wines.”

“Well, that works out for the best then,” her dad interrupted before she could say anything further. Max ground her teeth together and looked back at him. “I thought I might borrow Loki to help chop some wood in the back… You know, for the bonfire?”

“Loki’s our guest, _Dad_ ,” Max insisted firmly. “He doesn’t need to—”

“I threw my shoulder out this week playing dodgeball with my sophomores,” her dad continued, stepping up beside her and speaking directly to Loki now. “Max and her brother have always done a fire before bed the night before Thanksgiving… something their mother did, but I think I may have some trouble with the axe today.”

“It’s fine, we don’t have to have it—”

“It wouldn’t take long,” he pressed on as Loki continued to chew the somewhat large hunk of toast in his mouth. “Max, you can pop round to the store and be back by the time we finish.”

“ _Dad_ —”

“No, that sounds fine,” Loki told her, shooting her a reassuring smile. “I should probably earn all the delicious food your wife is going to make for me anyway.”

“See, good sport, this one is,” her dad laughed, clapping Loki on the arm as he strolled out. “I’ll have a quick shower, and then we can get to work.”

“Excellent.”

Max let out a huff as she watched him stroll out of the kitchen, and then hurried out after him, ignoring the toaster’s signal that her bread was done. She ended up at the bottom of the stairs, glaring at her dad’s retreating figure, and he finally turned back and cocked his head to the side. She wanted to tell him off, insist that she and Loki could have used to alone time to assess where they stood, but the words didn’t quite make it to her lips. 

“Get a haircut, hippy,” she snapped, gesturing up to her dad’s thin, chin-length hair, and then stalked back to the kitchen. When she returned, her tension eased away when she saw that Loki had not only finished his toast, but was currently making up hers, albeit somewhat sloppily. A soft smile touched her lips, and she crossed her arms over her chest as she watched him finish. When he turned back to her, plate in hand, she sighed. “You know, you don’t have to help him-“

“It’s fine, I promise,” he insisted as he crossed the distance between them. He then forced the plate into her hands, and her cheek pinked noticeably when he kissed it. “I’m going to get dressed.”

“Okay.”

She blinked at him as he sauntered down the hall, and then disappeared around the corner, leaving her alone in the empty kitchen with a plate of toast. Max glanced down at it, and then smirked; he really needed to work on his peanut butter to jam ratios.

* * *

Loki stared out the kitchen window, glaring at the grey clouds that hung overhead. There were dozens of thoughts floating around in his head, and the last thing he wanted to do was to cut wood outside in the cold. He would have rather gone somewhere to pick out wine with Max; he had no desire to discuss what had happened the night before, but he would rather simply interact with her normally to show there was no need for any kind of conversation of that nature. He may want to kiss her again, as it was quite enjoyable, but he certainly didn’t want to talk about it. Max hardly seemed like the type of woman to fixate on these things, but there was always a small chance that she might – perhaps it was a good thing her father had held him back?

He sighed noisily, and then rubbed the sleep from his eyes. In all honesty, the mattress had been awful, and with the dogs constantly shifting out, Loki barely got a wink of sleep. However, Max’s family was just so damn charming that it was difficult to be snarky with them over the little things. He might hint at something to Max when they were alone, mostly because he knew she could take it, but he decided being polite to her family seemed like a priority if he wanted to have a six course meal tomorrow. Now, he realized he may have sullied that by kissing their daughter in the dark and getting caught, but with the friendly atmosphere that met him in the morning, he assumed things were fine. 

He hadn’t the slightest idea what had possessed him to kiss Max. There they were, sitting together in front of a fire, and Loki had been lost to the flame. He couldn’t count the number of times he and Thor had a fire shared between them, usually before bed. It was a ritual they carried on from childhood to their adult years, and seeing the fire there in the small human mantel – nothing like the grand fires he had seen in Asgard, mind you – made Loki oddly reminiscent. In fact, seeing family interact in a pleasant way had already skewed his feelings, so he almost felt vulnerable. Yes, that had to have been it: Loki was vulnerable and in an odd place from the fire memories and silly family jokes, and he was powerless against Max’s whims when she settled down next to him with her lovely lips and charming smile. 

… 

No. No, Loki kissed Max because he wanted to kiss her. His natural state may have been godly, but he was not immune to desire or the need for affection. Stuck in this human form, everything felt amplified, and although he had a better grasp on his extreme level of arousal, it seemed as though something was missing from his life. He and Max had something of a friendship – well, no, they had a fairly strong friendship in remarkable time, actually – and when he had looked at her, the flames highlighting her features in the dark, he wondered if what was missing might be easily solved by a kiss. He had, of course, known she would be receptive to him, which took away the fear of rejection that came with most intimacy. The first kiss came out of curiosity to satisfy something inside him, and those that followed came because he thoroughly enjoyed the first one… despite the interruption. 

He hadn’t thought too much about the kissing, aside from some brief musing as he stared out at the unhappy weather outside, and he hoped that Max had felt roughly the same. After all, they had had a pleasant enough time getting his bed ready afterward, which he assumed meant that she had no regrets for what had transpired. 

“All right.”

Loki perked when he heard Max’s father approaching, and he turned back at the sound of nails clacking against the floor. Max Senior (the only real way he could separate the pair in his head) sauntered into the kitchen with the herd of mongrels behind him, and he crossed quickly to the back door. 

“Ladies and gents, after you,” he ordered, and Loki stood back as all six bounds barreled through to get into the outdoors. Afterward, Max Sr. tossed a pair of worn, thick gloves in his direction, which Loki only just managed to catch. “I found a pair of Nolan’s old work gloves for you… I’m sure they will fit.”

“That’s very considerate,” Loki remarked as he quickly slipped a hand into one to gauge the size. “Thank you.”

“Not to worry,” the man said. He gestured for Loki to follow, and he hurried on out the door after him. “We can’t have you ruining those hands before dinner tomorrow… It’s pure torture when you can’t get into Nancy’s turkey.”

“I can imagine.”

“Now, have you ever chopped wood before?”

Loki smirked when they came to a halt at the side of the house, a set of rather nice tools set on hooks in the stone. His eyes wandered along several small, though obviously effective, axes, and then shrugged. 

“I have some experience with an axe,” he informed the man, and then smiled slightly when he was handed the larger of the two weapons. He held it with both hands, adjusting his grip as he eyed the sharp metal blade: single bit, thick shaft, lightweight, sturdy. With the other man’s eyes on him, he resisted the urge to swing at nothing, preferring instead to simply let it fall to his side in one hand. 

How many creatures had he slain with an axe in his lifetime? He grinned at the thought. It certainly hadn’t been his weapon of choice, but in a pinch he was more than happy to pick one up and lodge it into someone’s skull. 

“We don’t need to do a lot,” Max Sr. insisted as he started toward the far side of the fenced-in property, Loki following closely behind. He had to be a good head or so taller than the man, and yet Loki could quickly appreciate his ability to command attention with simply a look. Perhaps it was the fact that this was Max’s father that forced him to behave, but for some reason, Loki felt the need to impress him. “I think we’ve got a few big logs we can use to keep it going tonight, and then we’ll have a pile of smaller ones to burn…”

“Yes,” Loki commented, eyeing the neat pile of thick logs. “Do you want me to split them?”

“Yes, there’s a way to go about it,” the man told him. Loki watched him lift a round, sizable log piece onto a small bench, and then gesture for the axe, which he handed him. “You want to hit the parts that are already splitting… Do you see?”

Loki leaned closer as the shorter man pointed the tip of the blade along a small crack, and he nodded. 

“Good,” Max Sr. continued. He then raised the axe above his head, no regards for whatever wound he had brought up earlier, and slammed it down, splitting the log perfectly in two. “Now you have a go.”

Loki’s eyebrow quirked slightly as he handed the axe back, and he quickly took up the older man’s position as Max Sr. replaced the split chunks with a new piece of tree. He nodded down at it, and then took a step back as Loki raised the axe and brought it down with all his might. Unfortunately, he only just managed to miss the split, and while the blade sunk into the wood, it did not split it. Glaring, Loki yanked the axe back out, struggling only a little, and huffed. 

“Try again. Go on.”

He resisted the urge to direct his glare up at Max’s father, who did not deserve it, but shouldn’t speak to him like he was a simpleton. However, on his second attempt, he managed to cut the log clear in half, though it took a considerable amount of effort, and he fully anticipated exhaustion after getting through the entire pile. 

“Well done,” Max Sr. praised, clearing the chopping block and fetching another piece. “You’ll get the knack for it.”

“I can see why you wouldn’t want to do this with a hurt shoulder,” Loki commented, shooting the man a bit of a skeptical look. Somehow he still managed to lift and carry heavy pieces of wood just fine. He merely shrugged in return, and then rubbed the right shoulder apathetically. 

Sighing, Loki brought his axe up and aimed for the split in the log, hitting it almost directly this time. From there, it became fairly routine, and he quickly realized this would have been a wonderful way to get out much of his pent-up rage that he had been suppressing over the months here as a human. His eyes narrowed when he went to work on one particularly stubborn, throwing all of his might into it, and when it finally split, he grinned – though the smile did not quite reach his eyes. 

“Now, where did you say you were from again?”

Loki glanced up as Max’s father knocked the split wood out of the way with his foot and replaced it with a new log. He licked his lips, his brain quickly running through their previous conversations, and then cleared his throat, “Cork.”

“Ah, that’s right,” the man muttered, taking a step back and folding his arms as Loki had another go at the umpteenth log. “Cork, England.”

“Yes,” Loki grunted, wincing a little when something spasmed in his back after the last swing. “That’s right.”

“Unless I’m mistaken, Cork’s in Ireland.”

Loki faltered slightly, and then glanced up, the axe resting at his side. “You’ve never heard of a small town called Cork in England?”

“In the twenty years I lived and traveled through Scotland and Britain, I can’t say I have,” the man remarked stoically.

“Well, one cannot possibly know every single hamlet in a nation, can they?” Loki challenged, eyebrows shooting up. “Can you tell me every town in this country?”

“Why are you lying?”

Loki opened his mouth, ready to fire back some witty retort, but he quickly closed it when he saw that his jests would fall to deaf ears. He clenched his teeth together, and then stared off across the vast field beyond the fence. He could run for it, potentially start again, but that seemed to be a little more work than he was willing to put into this human life after all the work he had already done. 

“It’s complicated.”

“Tell me.”

He sighed again, his breath foggy from the cold, and then stared back at the man, “My family life is complex. That’s about as much as I’m willing to tell, I’m afraid.”

The man took a step toward him, and Loki’s grip tightened on the axe. “Are you in trouble with any sort of law official, national or international?”

“No,” Loki remarked with a frown. “I’m here because my… my father sought to punish me.”

He took another step closer, and Loki actually had to crane his head down to hold his gaze. “Have you ever been convicted of a crime?”

“No.”

“Do you have any intentions of committing a crime?”

“No,” Loki snapped. “I was dishonest about from where I hail, but that does not reflect on me and why I am here.”

“And how do I know if you’re telling the truth?”

“You don’t,” Loki told him, leaning down a touch, his voice low, “but if Max trusts me, I suppose you might give it a try for her sake.”

The man stared up at him for a moment, and then turned away, shaking his head, “You raise an adequate point.”

Loki smirked, and then knocked his split logs aside before grabbing another one himself. Hopefully this would be the end of it, and Loki managed to get through another four logs before Max’s father spoke again. 

“You tell her the truth.”

“I’m sorry?” He paused again, head cocked to the side, axe hanging limply in his right hand. “Who?”

“Max,” the man clarified. The previous stiff quality of his voice was gone when he turned back to face Loki, and instead he saw a weariness in the older human’s face. “You tell her the truth before you break my girl’s heart.”

Loki blinked back the stunned expression, and then shook his head. “I don’t mean to do that, sir.”

“Yeah, we never do, do we?”

Loki frowned, and then handed the axe over to Max’s father when he held out his hand. 

“I’ll take over for a bit,” the man muttered, and Loki took a seat on a nearby wooden stump. He wrinkled his nose when he realized a little too late that the wood was wet, but once he had accepted his fate, he watched the man hack at the wood, “injury” completely forgotten.

* * *

Today had actually been a pretty fantastic day. Despite the fact she had to go wine shopping alone for the first time in many years, Max returned to find Loki and her dad having a cup of coffee in the kitchen, her mom hovering nearby with lunch already on the go. It seemed that the peace had been kept in her absence, which made her happy. However, she did not want her roommate to spend the entire weekend with her parents, and managed to drag him to safety after lunch. As expected, they ended up in the TV room, and had a fairly lengthy Game of Thrones marathon, as Loki hadn’t watched any of the seasons and she considered it blasphemy. 

Although she had wanted to bring up the kiss with him, Max couldn’t quite find the way to do it. The topic didn’t fit naturally into any of their conversations, and even when there was a lull in discussions of profanity and head chopping, Max felt weird just throwing it out there. Before they knew it, almost five episodes of the show had passed, dinner was ready, and all hope of talking about it was gone for the day. Luckily, there hadn’t been any weird tension lurking around, but he did sit on the very far end of the couch, and the only things that could possibly touch were their toes, and that was if Max reached for it. She tried her best not to be too put out, because they were having a really good afternoon without any of the sexual tension being explored, but she wouldn’t have said no to a little cuddling. 

Dinner had been fine, aside from the fish that her mom cooked – which Max never grew to like – and dessert was promised by the campfire. Every Thanksgiving, no matter the temperature outside, Max and her family would settle around a campfire with marshmallows. This year, even without her brother, proved to be no different. Long after the sun had set, Loki and Max unearthed the fold-out camping chairs from the shed, and her dad got a large fire going. The dogs sniffed around for a while, hoping to get a toasted marshmallow, but eventually drifted back toward the house when the heat became too much. Meanwhile, Max and her dad shared the joint camping chairs, while Loki sat across the fire from her, and her mom constantly shifting whenever the wind changed the direction of the smoke. 

The night was definitely freezing, but once she was bundled up and placed in front of the fire, all of that seemed to fade away. The conversation was intermittent at best, and aside from teaching Loki how to properly roast a marshmallow, not much had been said. Instead, it seemed the entire group, still fairly full from dinner, preferred to simply enjoy the fire. 

“Oh!” Max said suddenly, a thought coming to her as she reloaded her roasting stick with a fat marshmallow. “I ran into Garret at the store today.”

“How is he?” her mom asked as she readjusted the thick blanket around her. “His mom brought us a bunch of jams the other week… Is he still studying music?”

“Kind of hard to switch out of a master’s program, Mom.” Max chuckled, but then gave a nod when she shot her a look. “Yeah, he’s still doing that.”

“Is he still with that girl? The one from out of state? What was her name again?”

“Tiffany,” Max remarked, “and yes, they are still together.”

“Oh, good for him.” Her mom sighed happily. “He’s such a nice boy.”

“Is he the one who threw up on my couch at your graduation?” her dad asked suddenly, and she heard Loki chuckle from across the bonfire.

“Yup, still Garret, Dad,” Max sighed. He liked to clarify that with her every time in case she forgot about the party she hosted without his permission that ruined one of their couches. “Anyway, he invited us to play a game of football tomorrow afternoon… The weather is supposed to be really nice. You up for that?"

She glanced at her roommate, who was currently lamenting a completely charred marshmallow, his eyebrows knitted together. Smirking, she grabbed her marshmallow and chucked it at him, just managing to clear the fire and bounce off his leg. 

“What?”

“Football,” she repeated. “Tomorrow. Do you want to play? Garret and a bunch of guys we knew in high school are meeting up to play a friendly game.”

“I… I don’t know what that is,” Loki told her, wincing when he touched his burnt marshmallow. “I’ve never played.”

“It’s similar to rugby in some ways,” her dad offered, and she watched Loki force some look of recognition across his features. 

“It’s fine,” Max said quickly, before Loki tried to defend his lack of sporting knowledge to the man who lived in front of the TV for soccer and football seasons. “I’m really bad at it, but it’s all for fun, and occasionally we have a beer. Or two. Or five.”

“If you come home drunk, you don’t eat,” her mother threatened. Max smirked. 

“We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” she insisted earnestly. “Garret invited us, but we don’t have to go.”

“No, we can,” Loki told her after he tossed his ruined marshmallow on the ground. Shilah suddenly appeared from behind him, and snapped it up before her mom could discipline the dog for lurking. Max watched the old dog scuttle back to the house victoriously, and disappear in the shadows. 

“Cool, well I’ll get him to pick us up tomorrow,” Max said cheerfully, dipping deep into the pocket of her coat to take out her cell phone. She somehow managed to get the text across with her hands in mittens, a word or two misspelled, and then grinned. 

The group settled into a silence once more, and time seemed to pass with infinite speed, because before she knew it, her parents were calling it a night. Her dad had finished his beer, her mom was falling asleep in her chair, and apparently it was long passed their bedtime. She and Loki wished them both a good sleep, and then returned their attention to the fire, which had gotten smaller as time went by. Moments later, Loki had relocated from his chair to the one attached to hers, and she tried to contain her smile when his arm slipped around her.

“So,” she started, “I couldn’t help but notice you struggling to get a good marshmallow.”

“It’s a science the way you people brown them,” Loki muttered spitefully, which made her giggle. Max leaned down and pulled one of the last fluffy wonders from the plastic bag at her feet, and then stabbed it onto the end of her metal roasting stick. She then leaned forward and placed it near the coals. 

“You can’t keep shoving them in the top part,” she insisted, rotating it slowly to get an even burn. “You have to let them burn by the embers… Otherwise you ruin it.”

“I could have used that tip eight marshmallows ago,” he told her, and she shot him a grin. It wasn’t necessary to keep the marshmallow there long, and she soon brought it up on the tip of her roasting spike, and then blew on it. 

“See?” she murmured, plucking the brown marshmallow off and holding it out for him. “Perfect.”

“Modesty becomes you, Max,” he told her softly. Her eyes narrowed a little, and she ended up shoving the marshmallow into his face; it was sheer luck that it smeared somewhere near his mouth. He grunted, retracting the arm that was once around her to wipe the smudged insides off his cheek and lips, and then licked his fingers. “That was much better than anything I made.”

“It’s a talent.”

Max swallowed thickly when he swooped in, his lips finding hers with ease, and her eyes drifted closed. She hadn’t realized this was what she had been hoping for all day, even if it was simply lips pressed against lips. Her hands came up to touch his face, mittens and all, and he pulled back to smirk at the red, itchy fabric. 

“You seem to have many talents.”

Cheesy. She felt her cheeks tint at the sentiment, and then shrugged. “I _am_ gifted.”

It didn’t quite come out as smooth and confident as she had hoped, stuttering over the wording a little, but he grinned all the same. Max leaned into him as he placed his arm around her again, and winced as she tried to readjust herself over the armrest between their chairs. It was only a little stabby – nothing she couldn’t ignore.

“So how are you doing?” she asked, “You know, with the family and all? They aren’t too much, are they?”

“No, this has been fine,” he told her, his arm moving from her shoulder to her back, and then finally beneath her blanket and around her waist. 

“Cold?”

“This weather is ridiculous.”

“I told you to wear gloves.”

“But then I wouldn’t be able to do this…”

Max laughed when she felt him pinch her waist awkwardly through her thick winter coat, and then tilted her head up to kiss his cheek.


	24. The Steve Rogers Interlude

Steve glanced at his wristwatch, and then double-checked the time with the clock hanging over the back of the bar: two in the morning. With the patrons of the sleepy English pub filing out as the minutes passed by, he figured it was time to call it a night. He hadn’t meant to stay there this late, but he had drifted from conversation to conversation with a group of elderly veterans who lived up the road, and once they left, he sat watching the fuzzy television above the counter without a single thought in his head. 

He had definitely needed this trip. After he finished up with the Avengers earlier in the year, he hopped on his motorcycle and toured the nation. Unfortunately, wherever he went, rumours of the reclusive Captain America followed, and after he inadvertently started a bit of a riot in Tennessee, he decided he needed to find somewhere else to travel. It was England that really called to him, and even though he knew there was absolutely zero chance he might run into Peggy on the street one day, that hope lingered at the back of his mind. 

It had been fruitless, naturally. After almost three months of traveling around the United Kingdom on a rented motorcycle, Steve had yet to find anyone even remotely related to the woman he fell for all those years ago. It might have been for the best, but it certainly didn’t make it any easier. He missed the structure the army gave him; even S.H.I.E.L.D. had something to offer him in that arena, but Steve was also aware that, for his own sanity, he needed to be alone. He needed to learn how this modern world worked, because the vague crash course from Natasha and Clint had done nothing but confuse him. 

He watched 3D movies, road on rail cars that didn’t actually touch the tracks, and played with I-Pads in retail stores. Steve learned at his own pace, and could do whatever he pleased with both his military pension and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s recent deposit keeping his bank account full. It was a life anyone would have wanted, but he had a feeling that he could only carry on for another month or so. He met a plethora of wonderful people along the way, but he needed to touch back with reality sometime soon, and start establishing solid connections in in his life. 

After another glance at the time, he downed the rest of his drink, and then bid farewell to the staff. This was his second and last night drinking in the pub, and he seemed to be a favourite with the older women who ran the bar. They laughed and wished him a pleasant night and insisted he try to walk his motorcycle home. He grabbed his brown leather jacket from the coatrack near the door, slipped it on, and then stepped out into the brisk night. 

The cobblestone streets were quiet as he fished his keys from his pocket, boots softly treading on the damp ground as he approached his motorcycle. However, he realized something was off, and immediately the distracted fog cleared from his mind – it wasn’t as though he had actually had that much to drink, anyway. Hurrying forward, Steve’s eyebrows knitted together as he crouched down beside his bike, and he ran his hands over the tires: slashed. Someone must have really put some effort into that, because he had gone out of his way to find thick enough tires to manage any sort of terrain. 

Shaking his head, he stood and stared at the bike with his hands on his hips; slashing someone’s tires was personal. Someone could have easily stolen the bike and hawked it for a pretty penny somewhere in another county, and yet they damaged it instead. His jaw clenched as he went through the acquaintances he made in the small village over the duration of his stay, but nothing he could think of had been negative by any means. Unless this was a random act of violence, Steve knew to be cautious of the darkness around him. 

He bent down once more to examine the laceration in the rubber, but then quickly straightened when he heard a car door slam somewhere nearby. The vacant street may have been dimly lit, but Steve could easily detect the outline of a man moving toward him: tall, wide-shouldered, dark clothing. He frowned, and then casually stuck his hands in his pocket and decided to take a walk along the row of houses away from the bar, wondering if he might pick up a tail. However, as he turned, he saw another man strolling toward him at a similar pace. He looked between the approaching figures, and then hopped up onto the curb and disappeared into the alley behind the pub. Once out of sight, he ducked behind a garbage disposal bin and waited, crouched and ready. 

Footsteps thundered down the alley, and he tensed when they stopped. However, before he could leap at his followers, the garbage bin slammed into him, as though someone had kicked it. Steve rolled out of the way, wincing when the bin grazed his leg, and was then quickly on his feet. Arms up, position defensive, Steve found no time for words as the first of the two men threw themselves at him. He managed to get a few solid punches to the gut and face, but they definitely weren’t going down like any ordinary man. 

Just as he threw one of them off, the other went straight for his midsection, tackling him to the ground soundly. He expelled a puff of air, shocked to be winded, and then lashed out at his attacker’s face, slamming the palm of his hand into the man’s nose. He heard the crack, but the man gave no indication of feeling any pain. Instead, the fellow head-butted him harshly, forehead to forehead, and Steve felt the back of his skull break open on impact with the pavement. His momentary daze was just what the men needed, and one soon had him up on his feet, arms forcing Steve’s behind his back. He blinked away the fog once more, shaking his head to regain his focus. 

A flash of metal caught his attention, and Steve kicked out as the other attacker came at him with a lengthy, thin knife. He managed to nail him right in the chest, but that only deterred the man for a moment, and the attacker holding him tightened his grip. The entire ordeal was carried out in silence, aside from Steve’s pants and grunts, and that would have made any man feel unnerved. However, survival was the only thought on his mind, and as the assailant came at him again with the knife, clearly aiming for his chest, Steve managed to twist himself forcefully enough to slip loose and fling the other man back. As he intended, the knife was embedded in the one attacker when he looked back, though his partner showed very little remorse for the accident. Instead, he simply retrieved the knife from the man’s ribcage, and then came at Steve again. 

This time, the Captain simply ducked out of the way, then managed to grab a hold of the man’s jacket, and hurl him into the wall. When the man staggered, dropping the knife, Steve went at him again, slamming his head into the brick until he was sure he was unconscious. With that accomplished, he dropped the body and staggered back against the opposite wall, allowing his heavy breathing to slip out for a moment. 

What in God’s name had just happened? 

Body a little battered, but no worse for the wear, Steve crouched down to examine the knife. He frowned when he saw engravings along the blade, but when he touched the handle, something shocked him painfully. He hissed and withdrew, sucking on the sore finger as though to remove the pain. This was no ordinary weapon, and with everything he had seen in the future, it wasn’t something he could ignore. As he heard one of the bodies rousing nearby, he removed his jacket and used that to scoop up the weapon, and then made a run for it.

* * *

Loki awoke with a start, his breathing heavy and head angry. He blinked away his nightmare, a hand on his forehead as he sat up and glared across the dark room. It couldn’t be more than two or three in the morning, and his sleep had already been terrible. Perhaps it was the fact that one of the hounds had taken up most of his bed, and it most certainly also had to do with the terrible quality of his mattress. However, the nightmare definitely had something to do with it; he hadn’t had such vivid dreams since he was a boy, and it unnerved him that he couldn’t recall a single thing of it the longer he sat there. 

Shaking his head, he eased off the awful mattress and managed to find his way out of the living room after stepping on only two hounds. He ignored their cries; if they didn’t want to be stepped on, perhaps they shouldn’t sleep in a place he was destined to cross in the dark! 

The bathroom wasn’t too far off, and Loki navigated the dark, silent house with ease. Once inside, the bright white light making it difficult to see without squinting, Loki turned on the tap and waited for the water to warm. Realizing that it was a little louder than necessary, he tugged the door shut behind him by the handle, and then froze when the round brass knob came off in his hand. 

He held it out in front of him, turning the water off delicately as he stared at the object. Had he… Had he simply pulled off a weak doorknob, or had his strength come back to him? For a moment, he was too stunned to consider the second option, and he quickly looked around the small bathroom for something else to test his strength on. However, when he found nothing that would be too easily concealed, his gaze returned to the knob. Head cocked to the side, he attempted to force the object to levitate, a magic trick had he been able to do in his early years of training. 

Nothing. 

The brass knob simply sat in his hand, staring back at him tauntingly. His eye twitched, and he closed his palm around it, squeezing it with all his might until it crumbled as though it were one of Max’s charred cookies. He let out a surprised laugh, and then tilted his hand to the side to allow for the dusty particles to fall.


	25. Sunday Always Comes Too Late

“I don’t understand why we can’t just let the hound wander home… He must be nearby.”

“Look, my mom’s in a mood, so let’s just get this over with.”

Max heard Loki sigh noisily, and then grunt when the branch she let fly smacked him presumably somewhere near his face… possibly the neck, based on their height difference. She smirked to herself, and carried on as though nothing had happened, whistling every so often to catch Gus’s attention. The stupid dog had been locked out the night before; it wasn’t difficult to do, seeing as ten million other dogs also lived in her parents’ house. However, her mom was pretty upset to discover that he had spent the whole night outside, and subsequently sent Loki and Max on a mission to find him after their fairly early breakfast. 

Garret planned to pick them up around ten, but based on his slightly drunken text messaging from the night before, Max expected him to be there around half passed. The game was supposed to start at eleven, and sometime around noon her various old high school friends planned to break out some beer and light snacks before returning home to their families for dinner. As far as she knew, none of his other roommates would be making an appearance, which meant she was in for a Ben-free weekend, which was kind of a relief. She really did like the guy, but having Loki hone in on his territory even more than he already had might be a bit too much. 

She had tried to explain the complexities of football over breakfast that morning, but after her dad repeatedly interrupted to point out that she was telling her roommate something wrong, she figured she would just let Garret explain it. After all, Max lacked form and true athletic ability, but she could run and catch. Generally, she was in charge of booting it down the field and catching a ball if someone managed to throw it to her, and that was all she cared about. Well, and not getting tackled. In high school, it was been pick-up games of touch football, but as the boys grew to men, things got a little rougher, and that meant touching evolved into tackling. When girls – women – managed to actually play, Max generally noticed they weren’t tackled quite as harshly, but she was definitely going in a pair of unattractive sweats and a few layers of terrible shirts to counteract the mud. 

Shockingly, the weather had taken a turn for the better, and when Max and Loki scuttled outside with warm cups of coffee in hand, they were moderately surprised at the temperature. The sun was up and out in full that morning, and the ground was squishy when they tromped through toward the treeline. Max hoped it stayed for the sake of the game, as it was never fun to play in the bitter cold, and the weather had actually boosted Loki’s spirits a little. 

He was in the weirdest mood that morning, and Max couldn’t quite put her finger on it. As far as she knew, everything had been fine when they went to bed the night before. They had kissed a little on the staircase before disappearing to their separate rooms, and yet he sat across from her at breakfast with a slightly uncomfortable glow about him. 

Also, the doorknob was missing from the bathroom he had been using. He claimed to know nothing about it, which struck Max as a little odd, but her dad guessed that one of the dogs had finally torn it off. Apparently, they were destructive when bored. The issue was dropped when her mom agreed, and suddenly realized Gus was missing, and then all of a sudden Max and Loki were outside with their coffees. 

They strolled along quickly, him behind her, and she squinted through the thick trees in an attempt to spy white and black fur. The dog wouldn’t be stupid enough to wander too far from the place where he got free food, and she had a sinking suspicion he was under the porch. However, her mom had been really insistent that they check the woods first, and in her rush Max had forgotten to grab the dog whistle on the way out. Instead, she had resorted to shouting the dog’s name across the silent wood, and thus far had only spooked a family of squirrels. 

“So, do people get hurt in this… football game?” Loki inquired as she stepped over an unearthed root. 

“Sometimes,” she told him, “but I think they’ll go easy on you because it’s your first game.”

“I don’t think you understand how the male species works, Max.”

“What?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder when she heard him chuckle. He flicked out at her high ponytail, batting the hair playfully. 

“If it’s your first time doing _anything_ with a group of men,” Loki clarified as he now wrapped his hand around her thick hair and gave it a sharp tug, “then they’re merciless.”

“ _You’re_ merciless,” she blurted awkwardly, the words tumbling out in the place of something witty when he released her hair and stepped around her. He grinned again as he passed, and Max absently tried to readjust her small ponytail with her one hand while clutching at her coffee cup with the other. 

“Sometimes.”

“Well, you don’t have to worry about anything,” she insisted as she hurried to his side. “They aren’t going to be total dicks the entire time.”

Hopefully.

“Oh, I’m not concerned for my safety,” Loki mused after taking a small sip from the pink polka-dotted mug in his gloved hand. “I’m concerned for them, you see.”

“Because of your terrible, terrible strength?” she offered, quirking an eyebrow when he looked at her, “As I recall, I had to open someone’s jar of pickles before we left this weekend—”

“Well, I had to find a way to make you feel good about yourself somehow,” he droned, and Max rolled her eyes. “I think you’ll find I’m stronger than I look.”

“Yeah, that’s what every guy thinks,” she muttered, eyes scanning the bases of the trees around her for a pile of fur. When that proved fruitless, she stuffed her nearly empty mug into Loki’s spare hand, and then brought her fingers to her mouth. She heard Loki grimace when a shrill, slightly obnoxious whistle sounded from her lips, and moments later a yip responded. Shocked, Max’s eyebrows shot up when a pile of dead leaves rustled nearby, and then smiled when Gus surfaced. “Come here, you jerk.”

The dog trotted across the muddy ground to her, his belly coated in a layer of dirt and leaves stuck here and there. Max crouched when he approached, and she heard Loki scoff as she brushed the leaves off and gave the dog a scratch behind the ears. 

“Success at last,” he sniped, tapping a finger loudly against his mug. “May we return now?”

“You’re in a fucking mood today,” Max snapped, a little more harshly than she intended, and then forced a grin to compensate. “Yes, we can go back.” She retrieved her phone from her pocket and checked the time quickly before shoving it back in. “And Garret should be here soon to grab us, so turn that frown upside-down.”

“I’m not frowning.”

“Well, you’re in some weird… thing,” she told him, taking her mug back when he handed it to her and quickly gesturing for Gus to lead the way back to the house. The dog bounded off happily, as if the invitation was just what he needed to return. “Is everything okay?”

“If you must know, I’m not sleeping all that well on the mattress,” Loki told her stiffly. “I suspect I’m a little tired.”

“Oh.”

“What? No biting retort?”

“You could have just told me the mattress was uncomfortable,” Max insisted as they stepped through the treeline. She watched Gus barrel toward the house, barking happily when her mom waved him in from the back porch. “I mean, we have stuff in the basement I can put on top of it.”

“It’s fine.”

“I’ll get something for tonight—”

“It will do for now,” Loki told her tightly, cutting her off. Her eyebrows shot up. “It’s only one more night.”

“Look, you didn’t have to come.” He glanced off toward the field to their left, and she tightened her grip around the coffee mug, “I can always take you back to Masonville—”

“You jump to remarkable conclusions with very little prompting sometimes,” he remarked, turning his head back to face her with a large grin on his lips. “I want nothing of the sort.”

She was about to comment on how little he knew of the female species if her jumping to stupid conclusions surprised him, but he silenced her with a kiss: lips slightly parted, a hand at the back of her neck to tug her closer. Her eyes shut instinctually, cheeks aflame at doing this during the daylight in plain sight of the house. However, as quickly as he swooped in, he pulled away, and she opened her eyes to see him give her a once over before strolling toward the nearby fence. Max swallowed thickly and followed, a hand smoothing her hair down somewhat unnecessarily. Once at his side, she took the mug, which he dangled dangerously from the crook of his finger, and set it next to hers atop the fence post. In the distance, she saw that their neighbour had let the cows out. 

“Ugly creatures, aren’t they?” Loki mused, wrinkling his nose a little when one shuffled closer – though still a good distance away – and began grazing at what appeared to be a fresh pile of hay. 

“I don’t know,” she sighed as she leaned against the familiar wooden fence, the frame only just digging into her. “The babies are kind of cute.”

“Women.”

She nudged him as hard as she could in the side, and she heard him chuckle at her efforts. It wasn’t much of a genuine chuckle, but she would take it for now. Instead, Max climbed onto the lowest rung of the fence, getting her up to roughly Loki’s height, and then arched an eyebrow at him when he looked. 

“Nolan and I used to play a game when we were really, really bored,” she started, pausing briefly to retrieve her phone when she felt it vibrate. Garret was on his way, apparently. She typed a vague response and slipped it back into her pocket. “We used to see who could be the first one to get a certain cow to look at us.”

“How thrilling.”

“Well, there were bets placed too,” she added, a smile forming at the memory. “I’ll play you for the front seat of Garret’s car… He’s on his way.”

“I don’t care where I sit, Max.”

“That’s what people say who are afraid of losing,” she teased. “Are you afraid to lose?”

“I think I concede to you far too much,” Loki muttered, his gaze staring almost beyond the field, unfocused and distant. “You do realize that, don’t you?”

“It’s because I let you touch my boobs.”

She bit her lower lip when he looked at her sharply, his eyes widening, and she shrugged. Her attempt to appear nonchalant was foiled by the blush on her cheeks, which darkened when his eyes flickered down her chest for the briefest of moments. 

“Yes,” he muttered, smirking at her, “I suppose that’s it.” Max continued to stare at him pointedly. “Fine, I’ll play your silly game.”

“Winner takes the front seat,” Max told him. “Okay, so the point of the game is to get one of the cows to look at you… We’ll use… that one.” She pointed at a group of cows nearby, singling out the one with the silly purple blanket on. “You have to get her attention by yelling the word ‘moo’, and—”

“This is ridiculous.”

“This is a game concocted by ten year olds… just accept it,” she snapped playfully. “First person to get the cow to look will win.”

“I’m not yelling ‘moo’ across a field.”

“Then you lose by default.”

Loki sighed loudly, shaking his head as he glared at the cow. “Alright, you first.”

Max squared her shoulders, and then cleared her throat: poised and at the ready. 

“Moo!”

“Well, that wasn’t very loud,” Loki commented when they saw no reaction from their target. 

“I thought I’d give you a fighting chance.”

“How kind of you.”

“Go on,” Max prodded, poking his arm with her finger. “Moo a little…” She trailed off when that same finger hurt as she retracted it from him, “Did you do push-ups or something this morning? You are just… rock solid.”

“Perhaps you’ve never noticed before,” Loki commented absently, his eyes focused on the cow. “Moo.”

“Put some feeling into it!” she ordered, gripping the top bar of the fence, “Moo!”

This carried on for an embarrassingly long period of time, and by the end of it, Loki was actually laughing, the sound genuine and true in the crisp morning air. Once he pushed through his initial embarrassment with the game, the competition finally began to heat up, and Max clasped his arm when her latest ‘moo’ echoed across the field. Several other cows had looked up, curious at the random noises coming from the pair, but they had yet to see movement from the one they wanted… until now. 

“No, it’s just readjusting itself,” Loki told her heatedly, brushing her arm off. “I’m going to go again—”

“No, wait,” Max hissed. They fell silent, and finally the cow looked up, chewing unattractively as it stared directly at them. Max threw her arms up triumphantly, and jumped off the fence in celebration. 

“I let you win.”

“You’re the sorest loser I know,” she teased, poking her tongue out at him when he glared. 

“Guys… What the fuck?”

Both Max and Loki appeared equally surprised when Garret made his appearance known, and Max grinned cheekily. However, the grin soon disappeared, and was replaced with a look of confusion as she stared down at his hand. 

“Are you… Are you eating pizza?” Max inquired, knowing full well that he was eating a piece of pizza, as evidenced by the slice in his hand. 

“Pre-game warm-up,” he told her in all seriousness, and part of her wondered if her friend did it to keep his stomach somewhat settled; he looked pretty hung-over. “Let’s go, children… The Magic School Bus is saddled and waiting!” 

Max smacked Loki’s midsection when he rolled his eyes.

* * *

Loki eyed Garret’s large vehicle skeptically, but kept his opinion to himself as they approached it. He hadn’t bothered to fight with Max to clamber into the front seat, seeing as she did win their silly game, and dutifully took his spot in the back. It was as though he had his own personal driver that way, and why shouldn’t he? With his strength returned to some degree, he was officially above them all again. The shattered doorknob – wrongfully blamed on a hound – was evidence that Loki was not mortal, and he never would be. To be mortal was to be weak, as he would demonstrate in this silly little match today against the men from Max’s past. 

He spent the rest of his night awake, flexing and testing his ability to lift unnaturally heavy items around the Wright household. When morning came, he was tired, but not as exhausted as he could have been for getting very little sleep – another sign that things were finally on the mend. He wasn’t exactly sure what he had done to earn the All-father’s favour again, but it couldn’t have come at a better time. His venture on Earth may have been far more tolerable than he would have anticipated, and that was largely thanks to Max, but he wanted to be endowed with his rightful gifts and away from here as soon as he possibly could. His roommate complicated things, naturally, but he could come to a decision about her once he had dealt with the rest of his problems. 

A part of him had contemplated leaving that morning. With his strength returning, surely his magic would come afterward, and he would be too powerful to remain amongst the little people. However, he was not wholly restored yet, and he had a sinking suspicion that his friendship and somewhat ill-timed budding romance with Max sped the “rehabilitation” process along. If he wanted to return to normal, Loki knew he would need to allow his relationship with the woman to continue on a natural, easy course; surely that would convince the All-father that he could appreciate the human race. 

It wouldn’t be difficult to continue to appreciate Max. She made him laugh, let him grope her, and hardly batted an eye when he was in a sour mood. However, the same could not be said for the rest of the human race; Garret’s car was probably one of the most disgusting things he had ever seen. 

It was an assault on all five senses when Loki slid into the back seat, and he wrinkled his nose. 

“It smells like cheese in here.”

“Ugh, Garret,” Max groaned, sitting up quickly the moment she was in the front seat. “Why are there grapes on the seat?”

“Pre-game prep, guys,” Garret remarked, snatching a plastic bag filled with fruit that Loki had never quite understood away and setting it on his lap. “The body needs to be ready.”

“Are you still drunk?” Max inquired as she dusted off the front of her seat, shooting Loki a fairly unimpressed look as he buckled himself in. 

“No, just really, really hung-over,” the man replied as the engine roared to life. 

Moments later they had jerked their way through Max’s front forest, Garret grumbling the entire time about winding roads and unnecessary trees. Loki grasped at a small handle above the window to keep from tumbling over when Garret made a rather sharp turn out onto the road. 

From there, Loki tuned out the conversation between the pair in the front of the car, as he had no interest to listen about stories of their school glory days. He had no desire, in fact, to know anything about the people he would spend the next several hours with, as they were all inconsequential. Garret was a pleasant enough fellow, though he clearly lacked a sense of smell if he could function in this car any longer than ten minutes at a time, and Loki would tolerate him because they were already acquaintances. However, if Max was the key to showing he appreciated mortal Midgardians, then he wasn’t about to waste his time on any of the other small people he would encounter. 

Well, unless that involved knocking them to the ground. He was actually sort of excited to inflict pain and then feign innocence; with his strength renewed, he was sure to tap someone from behind and send them sprawling as though they had been hit by a beam. Naturally, he would be mindful around Max, and Garret if they happened to play for the same team, but everyone else was fair game. 

“Loki?”

“What?” he said quickly, snapping out of his daze as they came to a rather jerky halt at a stop light. He hadn’t even noticed Max swiveled around in her chair, eyebrows up as she studied him. “Sorry, I wasn’t listening.”

“I said that he’s going to give you a really quick run-down on how you play football, because apparently everything I’ve told you is wrong,” she informed him, rolling her eyes a little when he grinned. 

“Yeah, man, don’t listen to Max,” Garret insisted. “She just runs and catches the ball when we need her to. Do you play any sports?”

“Not recently.”

“Are you a fast runner?”

“Immeasurably so.”

“Good,” Garret said, drumming his hands noisily on the front steering wheel, and then flooring it when the light changed. “Well, we’ll see who has actually come out, and then we’ll find a spot for you. So, the basics of the game consist of a strange mix of awesomeness and danger…”

Loki sighed noisily as the man launched into a rather breathy speech about the tactics and rules involved in a game of football, but he lost Loki somewhere around the time when he was explaining about all the downs. 

“Isn’t that what I said?” Max asked, exasperation quite plain in her voice, and Loki reached forward to give her shoulder a squeeze. 

“No, that’s not what you said at all,” Garret told her as they made another hard bank right into a fairly empty parking lot. Loki quickly spotted a group of men and women roughly Max’s age milling about on a nearby field, and he assumed this was the party they were off to meet. 

They exited the car slowly when they arrived, and Loki watched Garret retrieve a case of ale from the trunk. He muttered something along the lines of not telling Tiffany how drunk he had been all weekend, and Loki nodded, as though swearing a promise, but the information quickly filtered in one ear and out the other. Instead, he quickly fell in step with Max, forcing himself to take shorter strides to keep pace with her. 

“So, are these all… old school companions?” Loki asked, rolling his eyes a little at his wording. “Friends.”

“Some of them,” she commented, eyes scanning the crowd as they approached the field. “Some are people that I kind of knew but didn’t really talk to… It’s all friendly here though.”

“Until the game begins, I’m sure.”

Max shot him a smirk, and then chuckled at Garret when he tripped over his own feet somewhere nearby. Loki then braced himself for the onslaught of introductions that followed; he was polite enough, but Max took the painstaking time to show him around to everyone, and by the end of it he wouldn’t be able to produce one name. If he really made the effort, he would be able to identify any and all of the men and women standing about on the cool day, chatting under a glaring sun, and yet Loki simply didn’t have to care anymore. He had the strength of a God again… What were these people to him?

Thankfully enough, Garret seemed only mildly more interested in socializing than Loki did, which seemed fairly odd. From what he had seen of the man in Masonville, he was actually fairly chatty. However, perhaps his woman brought out a different side of him, and without her around to prop him up, Loki could actually see his true nature. The pair sat next to one another on a wooden bench, the case of ale between them, and Loki accepted a bottle when it was handed to him. As he sipped the drink, which had a slight pumpkin aftertaste to it, he continued to watch Max as she flitted about from one cluster of people to the next. 

“She hasn’t hooked up with anyone here.”

“Excuse me?” Loki remarked, shooting Garret a quick frown. 

“Just in case you were wondering.”

“I wasn’t, but thank you,” he said stiffly. 

“No problem, man.”

When were they going to start hitting one another? Loki sighed and took another sip of his drink, and then watched Garret force his way through some small talk with a trio of women who appeared almost out of nowhere. They tried to engage with Loki, but he kept his sentences short and to the point, which seemed to make them quickly lose interest. Eventually, Max wormed her way through the group, and at her arrival the other women dispersed. He sensed some sort of underlying dynamic at play, and perhaps it wasn’t as friendly as she had initially led him to believe. Whatever the case may be, Loki didn’t care – all he wanted to do was throw a few humans into the ground and then go back and eat turkey. 

Delicious, delicious turkey. 

“Come on, drunkards,” Max chuckled, grabbing both Loki and Garret by their wrists and tugging. “We’re on the same team.”

Loki took a moment to finish his drink, her grasp barely affecting him, and then rose to his feet in a way that looked as though she had dragged him up successfully. In a spur of the moment, he leaned forward to place a kiss on her cheek, nothing too scandalous, but stopped when she inched back and glanced at Garret. He frowned; did she not want other people to know they were… well, beyond friendship?

“So what did the team hotshot put you on, Max?” Garret asked as he quickly downed the rest of his ale. 

“Wide receiver.”

“Shocking.”

“I’m not complaining,” she said as they strolled toward the field. “I usually don’t have to do much then.”

Loki noticed that there were only three other women out on the green, hard grass, while the rest of them had taken a seat on the bench. He smirked when he saw them dive into Garret’s ale, but kept the observation to himself – it would be more entertaining to let the man realize scheming harlots had stolen all of his alcohol after he played. 

At this point, unfortunately, Loki wasn’t really all that sure what he was supposed to do, even if Garret had gone to great lengths to explain the game to him. So, after Max gave him a quiet reintroduction to all the members of his team, he simply stood there, arms crossed, and watched the people around him fan out. He noticed that the other team had rolled up their pants to their knees, which was only attractive on the far less hairy women, but Loki assumed it was so that people could tell who was fighting for what side. 

This whole ordeal seemed ridiculous. Max didn’t even seem happy to be here – not really, anyway – and therefore it made little sense for Loki to even participate. 

“Okay,” Max whispered as she practically dragged him across the field, “stand here. See that guy over there? With the brown socks?”

“And the ridiculous facial hair?” he muttered, shaking his head at the atrocity. 

“Yeah, him,” she laughed. “When the ball gets going, they are going to try to score on us… Block him from getting the ball.”

“That’s all?”

“From what I understand, yes.”

“I can do that.”

“We can do this,” she insisted, clapping him on the arm before backing away. “Just ask someone if it’s confusing… or run around and look busy. That’s what I do.”

“I’m not taking advice from you on this,” Loki told her, unable to keep the corners of his mouth from quirking up when she knocked into one of their teammates as she walked backwards. Her face was a nice shade of pink when she looked back at him, and she waved awkwardly before darting across the field to her position. Shaking his head, he turned to face the line of people forming in the centre of the patch of grass, and then tried to look remotely interested when a few nodded at him. 

A whistle suddenly sounded, and Loki watched the two opposing lines in the centre of the field launch themselves at each other, an oddly shaped ball tossed between members of the opposing team. Loki frowned, and then jogged across the field to the man Max had pointed out earlier. There was a lot of shouting and grunting around him, and several pairs of people were already on the ground. When the fellow with the sad facial hair spotted him approaching, he took off in the opposite direction, toward Loki’s end of the field, and the god kept easy pace with him. 

When the man held his arms up, presumably to catch the ridiculous ball hurling across the field, Loki used one hand to drag him down into the mud. He held in his smirk when the fellow crunched into the grass, the ball landing several feet away and bouncing at odd angles. 

“Fuck!”

“Hey man, are you okay?”

“Grow a pair, Prewett,” Garret laughed, appearing out of nowhere at Loki’s side and extending a hand to him. For the sake of a show, Loki had gone down to his knees for credibility, but he could have easily stayed up. “The guy barely touched you.”

“It feels like I got hit with a train…” the man wheezed as Loki rose. “Just give me a second…”

“Dramatic lot, aren’t they?” Loki mused, dusting his knees off as he surveyed the field. He spotted Max being helped to her feet by a lanky man across the greenery, and she retracted her hand quickly to wipe her legs off. He crossed the field with a frown on his lips, shooting the man a bit of a look when they passed one another. “Are you all right?”

“Oh, yeah, fine,” Max muttered, waving off his concern as she readjusted her hair. “Good save!”

“Why were you on the ground?”

“Oh, I was trying to block Kevin and we tripped over each other,” she told him. Loki glanced back at this ‘Kevin’ fellow, who was laughing with another man across the way, and then shot Max a skeptical look. However, the woman remained oblivious to his suspicions, and instead pointed to another spot on the field, “Now, we’re the offense now, and we want to get the ball across the field into the end zone. So, your job now is to protect everyone who is in charge of catching the ball.”

“Like you?”

“Well, no, I’m not that important,” she insisted. “Watch out for guys looking to tackle anyone running with a purpose and block them.”

“Is this an actual position?”

“I don’t know,” Max laughed. “I mean, we’re drinking beer and playing this on a soccer field… I don’t really know how professional this is supposed to be.”

“Point taken.”

She shot him a smile before darting off across the field again, pausing briefly to say something to Garret along the way. Loki sighed, and then watched the proceedings happen all over again. This time, he ran quickly and blocked a woman from trying to get at another one from his team who had caught the ball. With his defensive tactics in play, she actually managed to cross some sort of line that signalled a point had been scored, and he managed to do it without crunching anyone into the ground. Small mercies. 

Loki watched the teams set up again, and he felt very large indeed amongst the humans. Many were panting, sweating, some even limping, and yet he remained in peak condition. Pathetic. With his strength returned, he truly appreciated the gifts he had, not those of mortal men. Why should he appreciate a form that weakened so easily?

This game seemed a little pointless to Loki, and the only thing he could enjoy about it was the fact that he could knock people over. After a few rounds, he gained a reputation for being a good defensive player, and was moved to a more central position for the team. However, every single time they paused to reset after the ball changed hands between teams, he noticed that Max was on the ground, and that Kevin fellow was in the process of helping her up. Loki approached her several times over the issue, but she insisted it was all a part of the game – Kevin’s position was to block her, and that was what he was doing. 

Although he did get a little caught up in the competition, Loki continually found himself distracted by the display happening between Max and Kevin the longer they played. They had been at the game for the better part of an hour and a half, and at this point he was ready to do something. Their team was up by a considerable amount, but it seemed like there would be no mercy from the men who considered themselves captain. Loki, on the other hand, hardly cared about winning a silly little game. 

“He’s kind of a dick.”

“Sorry?” Loki snapped, shooting a sidelong glance at Garret as they stood next to each other. He was finally starting to feel winded, his breathing heavy, and he glared down at the joints in his knees; they were starting to ache. 

“Kevin,” Garret remarked, nodding toward the lanky fellow. “I mean, he really doesn’t need to tackle Max with every down, you know?”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

“He’s doing it so he can get a good feel,” Garret told him. “Or he’s trying to… dunno how much you can actually feel through the sweater and track pants.”

“Regardless,” Loki ground out when he saw the man looking his roommate over. “It seems suspicious.”

“You know, he tried to hook up with Tiffany once when I brought her home for New Years,” the man started, hands on his hips, chest heaving. “He’s actually kind of a huge dick.”

“I think I’m finished playing defense for other people,” Loki decided. 

“Yeah, I’m ready to call it quits.”

“No, I’m going to play defense for Max instead.”

“Oh, right,” the man said quickly, tearing his eyes away from his empty case of beer at the sidelines. “Well, how about I block her, and you can handle Kevin.”

“I…” Loki trailed off when he spotted the man in question, and suddenly realized he wanted to do nothing more than slam his head into the ground. He would show some restraint, naturally, otherwise he would kill the fellow, and that might look bad. Possibly. “Fine.”

“Just don’t go for the junk,” Garret commented as they parted. “Looks like a cheap shot.”

Loki quirked an eyebrow at him, and then resumed his new normal position somewhere in the middle of the field. However, rather than darting right as he usually did, he took a hard left, nudging someone out of the way to go straight for Kevin. The tall, lean man saw him coming, but continued on, perhaps thinking that Loki was going for someone else on the team. A quick glance back saw that Garret stood in front of Max, hands up defensively, and Loki grinned. As Kevin raced toward him, Loki quickly stepped aside and stuck his foot out subtly, and when the man tripped over it, Loki shoved down on his back to ensure a fall. However, he made the motion fluid with his body turning, so that only someone who was paying a great deal of attention would have seen that he pushed the mortal. 

Loki feigned a look of concern when the round was called, and many surmised that Kevin had fallen at an odd angle and inadvertently knocked himself out. 

“It looked like he tripped over his own feet,” Garret commented, and Loki offered a nod of agreement when a few eyes turned to him. “Can we just call it a game and drink the rest of the beer now?”

There was a small chorus of agreement, and finally the game had come to an end. Loki watched as a few of the man’s friends helped him off the field, and he crossed his arms over his chest when he felt his stomach rumble irritably. Hopefully they could leave soon, as he was more than ready to indulge himself on Nancy’s turkey. 

Sighing again, he turned toward the sideline and started to walk, only to feel as though he had the Mjolnir on his shoulders. He swallowed uneasily, his legs starting to tremble, and he was forced to sit down on the wet field before he made it to the bench. For a moment, his vision blurred, and he had to blink hard a few times to restore it. He also needed to shake the ringing from his head, and a foreboding feeling swept across him as he gazed up at the now grey sky. 

“No,” he whispered desperately, “it was only in fun, All-father, I promise—”

“You finally worn out, champ?” Max asked as she approached, placing a hand on his shoulder as she crouched down. “You okay?”

“I suddenly feel a little tired,” Loki admitted coldly, his hands shaking as he tried to still his rage. How could that old fool be so sensitive? It wasn’t as though he had seriously injured anyone… The dolt was talking and drinking already.

“You’re probably just hungry.”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Well, you’d better get hungry,” she chuckled, sliding an arm around him and attempting to slowly ease him to his feet. “Mom went and bought more food when she saw how much you liked her cooking.”

“Oh.”

“You do look a little pale though,” she said suddenly, stepping in front of him to touch his cheeks with the cool tips of her fingers. “Maybe we should just get going… I think Garret’s ready to go to sleep at this point anyway.”

“Yes…”

Loki managed to get his legs moving again, but every limb felt heavy. How could he be given his strength, and then have it removed so shortly after? Everything he had done today was for Max’s sake; perhaps he would need to make it more obvious in the future. He wrapped an arm firmly around her shoulder and kissed her temple in plain sight of everyone, and then leaned his weary body on her more than necessary until Garret agreed to take them home.

* * *

Dinner had been excellent, as usual, and Max decided that the day overall had been a smashing success. Loki made a splash with the guys for his football tactics, even if he did go a little rogue at the end to have a go at Kevin. Max hadn’t commented on it, mostly because she assumed it was done for her sake, and therefore let that idea stew happily in her mind rather than call him out on it. They returned home an hour before dinner had been ready, and while Max helped out in the kitchen, as much as her mom would let her do, anyway, Loki and her dad sat upstairs watching the remainder of some football game until everything was ready. 

As predicted, Loki went through almost four plates of food, but there was still a sizeable amount for them to take home. Max loved having Thanksgiving leftovers, and was pretty excited to be eating turkey sandwiches for the rest of the week. After she and Loki loaded the majority of the dishes into the dishwasher, it was time for dessert. Her parents took it in front of the TV upstairs, while she and Loki drifted toward the living room. Before they commenced with the eating of delicious custard and pie, her dad and Loki got a fire going in the mantel, and after her dad disappeared back upstairs, they settled down on the couch, Loki’s bed folded away for now, to enjoy their treats. 

Max sat cross-legged in the middle of the couch, her bowl of deliciousness seated in her lap, while Loki leaned against the armrest. They seemed comfortable in the silence, but as Max scooped a forkful of pie into her mouth, she knew she would have to break it soon. With the actual dinner over with, it would be time to head back to Masonville, and in essence get back to their regular lives. That left the question of what was going to happen with them and their relationship, and the fact that they were roommates. 

After swallowing her mouthful, she cleared her throat, eyes focused on the flames. She didn’t want to be that girl who made too big a deal out of things, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to go home without some sort of decision made between them. 

“So, I was thinking,” she started, tapping her fork against the side of her blue bowl, eyes narrowing in on a spark that flew out from the hearth. “I was just wondering what… we’re going to do when we get home. I mean, we haven’t really known each other than long, and we’re living together, and now we’re… well, we’re doing something. I don’t want to label it, or rush it, or make a big deal out of it, but I don’t think we can actually say we’re just friends anymore.”

She took a breath, and then ate another forkful of pie. Loki remained silent at her side, but she felt a little too awkward to actually meet his gaze. Instead, she carried on; it would be easier to have a word vomit and get everything out of the way than to hash out everything slowly. 

“I mean, people who suddenly aren’t friends don’t just… start living together,” she continued. “They take their time, go on dates, get to know each other better, and I feel like we’re bypassing a lot of steps all of a sudden, and I don’t… I don’t want it to ruin anything, you know? I like living with you. I like being around you. I just… I feel like we should talk about it before we get home and it gets awkward,” she paused for a moment, “or not awkward. It could be awesome, and everything could be really great, but… I don’t know. I feel stupid bringing it up now, but we may not get a chance to talk about it properly tomorrow.” 

Still, he said nothing, and Max immediately regretted saying anything at all. They weren’t anything yet… Just because they had kissed a few times in front of a fire didn’t make them a couple, and she had now become that girl. She sighed and ate another piece of her pie in silence, waiting tensely for him to respond. However, when the quiet dragged on for an uncomfortably long time, Max finally looked at him, and then groaned.

“Loki.”

His head was tilted over the back of the couch, eyes closed and mouth gaped, and his bowl of dessert lay forgotten between his limp fingers. Max watched the rhythmic rise and fall of his chest for a moment, and then poked him sharply in the ribs. “Loki.”

“What?” he snapped sharply as he bolted up, eyes shooting open and blinking rapidly, “What? What’s wrong?”

“Were you sleeping?”

“No.”

She quirked an eyebrow, “You were.”

“I was merely resting with my eyes closed,” he argued defensively, and then scooped some pie into his mouth. “This is delicious.”

“All right, what did I say then?”

“I’m not playing this game with you—”

“What did I say?”

He stared at the fire for a moment, and then looked back at her, “We were… discussing… dinner-“

“Oh my god, you totally fell asleep,” Max laughed, the nervous energy tumbling out when she realized he genuinely hadn’t heard a word she said. Good. They could revisit the discussion later when something actually genuinely happened between them. “Come here. Turkey gets the best of everyone sometimes.”

She set her empty bowl on the floor, and then beckoned for him to come closer. She resettled herself at the other end of the couch, and held her arms out for Loki to crawl between them. Moments later, he had settled on her, pressing only slightly on her full stomach. With his head on her chest, she heard him sigh, arms fidgeting until they found a comfortable position. She ran a hand through his short hair, and continued to do so until he fell asleep once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So looooots of chapter updates this week. I wanted to do one for each of the days named in chapter titles, but then there were the few in-between that I had to do too. So this week is an anomaly. I will try to update every Sunday going forward.


	26. I can haz cheeseburger?

Max glanced at the small clock at the corner of her computer screen, and decided that if she didn’t want to be late meeting Tiff for lunch, it was time to drag her body into the shower. Despite the fact she had just gotten back from a long weekend a couple of days ago, she was already prepared to have a lazy day. So, she had slept through her alarm that morning at nine, opting to get out of bed a whole half hour later than normal, and lollygagged on the computer until half passed ten messing around on the internet. Tiffany had a fairly lengthy lunch break between her classes, and a few quick text messages later they had arranged to meet at a café downtown to grab a bite to eat. Thus far, her day had consisted of nothing other than pictures of internet cats and Facebook creeping, along with a fairly giant mug of tea, and that was how she liked it. 

It was actually pretty nice to be back into the familiar rhythm that Masonville provided. Yes, it was wonderful seeing her family, and she was sure she and Loki wouldn’t have hooked up if they stayed in Masonville for the weekend. However, by the time Monday came around, she was itching to get back to her regular life, even if that did involve marking first year assignments and trudging her way through some of her own in front of terrible reality TV. Besides, she already had plans to be home for Christmas, so it wasn’t as though her parents were losing their daughter for months at a time; they were actually probably pretty enthused themselves to be getting their house back to some state of normalcy with Loki out of the living room.

So, with a car stocked full of leftover Thanksgiving foods, she and Loki ventured back to Masonville in the midst of a hail storm on the holiday Monday, and were back to work shortly after. Unfortunately, once they crossed the boundary lines between towns, Max felt thrown for a loop when it came to her relationship with her roommate. It wasn’t as though he started acting differently around her, but now everything he did fell under heavy scrutiny. Max noticed that after a few days, she was overthinking just about every little thing he did, right down to whether or not he gave her a kiss before he went to bed – and at this point, she wasn’t sure which one of those situations she preferred. 

Max had never been one to move all that fast in relationships. She was a flirt when she wanted to be, but when it came to the physical aspects of it, it took her years in high school before she actually slept with one of her boyfriends. She was never sure when it was right to make a move, and if she ought to be the one to do it, and usually waited for a guy to decide that for her. 

Naturally, as she grew into a more confident woman in other areas of her life, her relationship abilities seemed to even out a little, but Loki managed to make her feel like a teenager all over again. They may have been the same age, but it felt like he was years ahead of her with a number of things, even when he was his usual pop-culture-stunted self. So, while Max may have been the one to initiate a little cuddling here and there, Loki seemed more willing to do anything else. 

However, Max wasn’t exactly sure _what_ to do. Technically, they had known each other since August, but it still felt too soon to do anything below the belt if they were actually going to make a go of some kind of relationship. She was also aware, unfortunately, that guys had a tendency to lose interest if a woman held off for too long, which made her stress inwardly; should they be sleeping in the same bed? Was it weird that they would sit on top of each other while watching the news at eleven, and then go to separate rooms when it was finished? Should they bother to go on dates if they saw each other all the time anyway? 

This was probably one of the more confusing relationships she had ever been in, and she was pretty sure Loki hadn’t given it much more thought now than he had on the weekend. Sometimes he seemed distant, off in thought, but she had chalked that up to his personality at this point; he was a thinker. He analyzed situations before he spoke, which was an admirable trait, but that also meant he wasn’t going to say anything to her until he was absolutely certain that he had the right wording. Now, the right wording to him may not have been the right wording to her, but they could deal with those sorts of issues when they came up. As for right now, Max was working hard on keeping all the crazy thoughts in her head so that they actually had the chance to start something without teenage drama floating around between them. 

Max sighed softly, and then closed her laptop before pushing away from her desk. She then grabbed her freshly washed towel and a change of clothes for the day, and drifted toward the bathroom. Loki’s door was slightly open, and she could hear him moving around inside his bedroom; she wasn’t sure what he actually did in there without a single piece of technology to keep him company, but somehow he managed. She flicked on the light and squinted under the brightness of the new white bulb, and then set her clothes down on the sink – at least they would stay dry from the shower’s spray. When she turned back, she saw Loki stumble into the bathroom, towel also in hand. 

“Morning.”

“Don’t you have class?” he asked, genuinely surprised to see her standing on the other side of the door. “It’s Thursday, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I felt like slacking off today,” she told him with a shrug. Max then nodded down pointedly at his towel. “So, what are you doing?”

“I had planned to shower, actually.”

“Coincidence… so did I.” She laughed, holding up her bright green towel as evidence. Her cheeks then coloured when he smirked at her suggestively, and she shook her head. “I beat you in here, so I get to go first.”

“We could always preserve the planet’s water supply,” he purred, inching forward and tugging at the bottom of her rather unflattering t-shirt. “Shower together?”

“Get out,” Max ordered playfully, but not before leaning up to accept his quick peck. “I’ll be really quick.”

“You’d better be,” Loki muttered, shooting her a bit of a look. “I’d hate to be late to my media and technology lecture… the ground-breaking information I would miss weighs heavy on my heart—”

“Get out!” she chuckled as she shoved him out. “Stop stalling me.”

“Are you sure I can’t sit in and watch?” Loki asked as she started to shut the door. “I promise I’ll be extra quiet—”

“Out,” she said one last time, shaking her head at him and grinning like an idiot when he smiled. 

With the door shut, she leaned back against it and ran a hand through her messy hair; what was she supposed to do in those situations? Roommates could laugh off awkward shower encounters, whereas significant others (or potential ones, anyway) might take the sexual route – where were she and Loki on that continuum?

She flicked on the fan and then peeled off her outer layer of clothing, tossing the pieces on the ground before hopping in the shower. True to her word, Max kept it under seven minutes for the sake of Loki’s hot water supply. Once she was out, she dressed quickly, added on a light layer of make-up, and then opted to blow-dry her hair in her bedroom. 

“Shower’s free,” Max called absently as she gathered up her things, and then grinned again when she spotted Loki hurrying down the hallway. “All yours.”

“Excellent,” he remarked, catching her in one arm as they passed one another and dragging her up against his frame. She squealed quietly in surprise, but dropped her things in order to cup his face all the same when he pulled her up for another kiss. He tasted like coffee, and she no doubt countered it with her tea taste; morning kissing could be really hit or miss as far as breath went. When she settled back down off her the tips of her toes, he swooped in for one last final peck, and then studied her for a moment. “Where are you off to?”

“What makes you think I’m going anywhere?” she inquired, quirking an eyebrow at him as she bent down to pick up her discarded clothing. 

“Well, your eyelashes have colour,” he noted. “That means you’re leaving the house.”

“Mascara,” Max commented, planting a hand on her hip. “How have you lived with me for this long and not know the make-up lingo?”

“Can’t say it’s something I actually care about,” Loki told her. 

“Touché.” She chuckled. “I’m meeting Tiffany for lunch… I’m going soonish, so I’ll see you after class.”

“Give her my best,” he said as he turned back toward the bathroom. 

“Yup, see you after.”

She lingered in the hall for a moment, pretending to fuss over her towel until he shut the door behind him. Were they supposed to kiss goodbye? Should she not care? Should she? Max groaned under her breath, and then disappeared into her room to finish up the final preparations for departure, all the while her mind aflutter with ridiculous thoughts about how she ought to handle Loki now that they had taken their relationship to a new level.

He was back in his room with the door shut by the time Max was ready to go, and she opted to just leave without saying anything more. After all, that’s what she would have done if they hadn’t been making out with each other, so whatever. She slipped her feet into her winter boots by the front door, followed quickly by her heavy jacket and hat, and then hurried out to her car. The café was within a twenty minute walk, but with the snow piled up to her knees after the stormy week they had had, she wasn’t about to force herself to walk when she could drive. 

Parking, however, was a bit of a problem, and she was forced to do a stupidly difficult parallel park in front of the café with a line of irritated drivers waiting behind her. Once she was in and sorted, she paid for two hours on the nearby parking meter, and then hurried inside and out of the frigid weather. Punctual as always, Tiffany was waiting for her at their usual table near the front window, and they smiled when their eyes met. 

“How was the homestead?” Max asked as they went in for a quick hug. She then shrugged off her coat and hung it on the back of her chair, ruffling her hair from its stint in her hat. A waiter dropped off a laminated menu for her, and she nodded as she took a seat. 

“Oh, you know.” Tiffany sighed. “Turkey, lots of food, dessert, football, beer… It was good to see some of my old friends though.”

“Yeah, that sounds like my weekend too,” she chuckled as she scanned the menu, “minus Loki.”

“About that,” her friend chuckled, leaning back in her chair and surveying her as Max feigned an interest in the sandwich options. “What was he doing there? Garret said you guys played football together.”

“My mom invited him,” Max explained, pushing the plastic sheet of paper away and then fiddling with the fork and knife at the side of the circular table. “Was that all Garret said?”

“He said you got a kiss on the field.”

Tiffany’s eyes widened when Max’s cheeks coloured, and she opened her mouth to pry further. However, their waiter resurfaced at that exact same moment, and he had his pen and pad ready to go. 

“What can I get for you ladies today?” he inquired, clearly setting on his smile to impress in an effort to get more tips. Ha. Little did he know he was dealing with students who had almost no money at any given time. “We have a tomato soup special—”

“Caesar salad with a Diet Coke,” Tiffany said quickly as she collected both menus, eager to get rid of him. 

“Okay, and for you?”

“Club sandwich with a water,” Max replied, her stomach gurgling happily at the prospect of finally getting something other than tea in it that morning. 

“Fries or salad with that?”

“Fries, please.”

“And did you want gravy on your fries?”

“Uh…” Max grinned when she heard Tiffany sigh dramatically, and then shook her head. “No, that’s fine.”

“Awesome,” the waiter remarked as he accepted the menus from Tiff. “I’ll have your drinks soon—”

“Thanks,” Tiffany said, smiling brightly up at him despite her impatience. The man disappeared shortly after, and Max felt the full blast of her friend’s eager eyes land on her. However, rather than launching right into the story, she took a deep breath and studied her car through the window beside her, wondering if she ought to bother washing it before winter actually hit. “Max.”

“Okay, so, it’s not a big deal,” she babbled, fidgeting with the sleeve of her purple sweater as she looked anywhere but at Tiffany, as her friend’s excitement made her blush an embarrassing shade of pink. “We sort of… hooked up… a few times.”

“Oh my God—”

“You can’t say anything to anyone!” Max hissed, biting her lower lip for a pause as their waiter delivered their drinks. Once he was gone again, she lowered her voice a little, “I just… I don’t want Ben to hear anything, you know?”

“Yeah, I guess—”

“And we don’t even really know what we are yet,” she continued as she prodded her lemon slice into her drink. “I mean, I’m not sure if we’re just hooking up, or we’re seeing each other, or… fuck, I don’t know, dating?”

“What do you mean?” she asked, “Haven’t you guys talked about it?”

“Well, I did this really awkward speech Sunday night after dinner about how I was feeling,” she told Tiff, tapping a nail against her cold glass, “and he fell asleep. Like… just conked right out.”

Her friend snorted into her drink, and then smirked. “Well, he is a classy fellow.”

“He is,” Max told her, ignoring the sarcasm. “I mean, he hasn’t pushed for anything or been stupid, and he didn’t start distancing himself once we got home… He’s been… great.”

“But?”

“But I have zero clue about what we’re doing, and that just makes me uneasy, you know?”

“Maybe you guys need to have a talk about it?” Tiffany suggested. “Just for the sake of clarity?”

“I know, but I don’t want to be that girl who overthinks everything—”

“We’re _all_ that girl,” her friend argued lightly. “Any girl who says she doesn’t think about the guy she’s sleeping with is lying—”

“We didn’t have sex,” Max interjected quickly, quieting herself once again when Tiffany’s salad arrived. “I’m not the type of person to move quickly with that stuff. I’m fine where we are now with what we’re doing, I just don’t like not knowing.”

“Well, the way I see it, you have two options,” Tiffany remarked as she stabbed a cluster of lettuce. “Option one involves directly asking him what he’s thinking… It seems the most logical.”

“And option two?”

“Waiting it out,” she continued. “If you can keep it together and not freak out about it, you guys could just wait and see what happens… Who knows, next week it could be official without you guys needing to talk about it.”

“I could do that,” Max muttered after a moment or so of thought. “Maybe… It’s not hard to get along with him when we’re together.”

“Good kisser?”

Max pursed her lips together and said nothing, mostly for the fact that the waiter had finally shown up with her sandwich. Tiffany giggled at her expression and shook her head a little, and Max shoved a few fries into her mouth. 

“Really good.”

“I had a suspicion he might be.”

She stared down at her sandwich, and as good as it looked, she almost wished she had asked for the lunch burger instead. Oh well. It still tasted delicious, even with her reservations, and she wiped a bit of mayo from her lip before she spoke again. 

“But seriously, you can’t tell anyone,” she warned, “and make sure Garret isn’t running his mouth either. I just… I don’t want outside pressure to ruin stuff.”

“Girl scout’s honor of silence,” Tiffany said gravely, and Max rolled her eyes. “How’s the sandwich?”

She shrugged, “Good… but I wish I had gotten the burger instead.”

* * *

There were a number of places around campus that Loki preferred to sit in while he waited for time to tick by between his lessons, and the main dining hall certainly was _not_ one of them. However, almost every inch of the usual library seating was covered when he strolled through, and was therefore forced to dine with the rest of the student body elsewhere. Surrounded by noise and painfully bright light, Loki stared down at the lunch tray in front of them, and then ground his teeth together when someone knocked against his back as they tried to weave their way through the tightly packed tables. He was lucky to have found one to himself, but it was in the centre of all the chaos the dining hall usually produced around the midday feeding time, and his patience with it all was thinner than the slice of meat in his hamburger.

Shockingly, Loki was actually fine with being back in classes. They may not have been the most intellectually stimulating thing out there, but at least he had a chance to exercise his thinking muscles to some degree. It was far better to struggle through assignments than to sit around at the Wright household with nothing to do but eat; how strange that he had wanted to do nothing more before the weekend, and now he wanted to get away from it. Even Max seemed to be pleased to leave the home of her parents when Monday reared its ugly head, and Loki had been keen to get on the road before midday. 

The pair had only been home a few days at this point, but already Loki sensed a hint of distance from his roommate. It wasn’t the same sort of distance as before, but she seemed incredibly unsure of herself, which was frustrating. He had done nothing to change the way he interacted with her, despite the fact he liked to think he could kiss her whenever he wanted now, and yet something about Max seemed off. For now, his plan was to ignore it until it directly affected him; women thought of so many ridiculous notions, and although Max was not the worst of them, it would still take her time to sort everything out in her head. Until then, Loki played his affections with her down only slightly, especially when he noticed an uncomfortable expression cross her face. He wasn’t particularly sure what the woman was like in a romantic setting, but she certainly was not as forward about it as she could have been. 

In actuality, that suited Loki fine; he wasn’t especially forward when it came to romance either, as it had always been one of the last things on his mind. He could flirt, yes, and turn on the charm when it suited him, but now that he had found someone who was capable and willing to reciprocate in kind, he actually wasn’t all that sure what to do with himself. He hadn’t ever actively participated in a courtship, so he wasn’t sure what the customs were. How often was he supposed to kiss her? Were they supposed to be intimate with one another? Should he buy her things? All of his rather vague experiences with women in the past seemed somewhat arbitrary and useless at this point, which left him in a bit of a situation. 

If Max had little desire to be too outwardly expressive of their new status now that they had returned to the real world, he was perfectly willing to go along with her until she decided to make a change. After all, it wasn’t as though he liked her any less at this point, and his feelings for her were the only things keeping him on the path back to godhood. 

Now, if only the rest of the human race didn’t make it so damn difficult… He almost broke his plastic fork when someone nudged into him for the umpteenth time in that hour, and when he looked back pointedly over his shoulder, there was no one there. Well, no one there who had clearly walked into him; he was certainly not alone surrounded by at least a hundred other young college students. He sighed noisily, and then stabbed the pliable fork into his bowl of chili fries, scooping the mess into his mouth and glaring when half of it fell down his chin. One could never eat elegantly when one’s food is covered in meat slop. 

A quick glance at the obnoxiously large clock that hung over the make-shift McDonald’s counter indicated that Loki had another forty minutes before his next class started, and he figured he might as well find something to distract him while he waited. He didn’t have the laptops that other students could pop up and play on whenever a second of boredom struck, but he did have his biology textbook in his backpack, and that always made for good reading in a pinch. He was halfway through the chapter on vertebrate evolution – two weeks ahead of schedule, naturally – and he could probably chew through the rest before he was required in his next class. 

So, he reached down and unzipped his bag, fishing around in it awkwardly until he had a good grip on the large text. He then hauled it out and set it on his lap, and then quickly straightened out. However, when he was upright again, he saw that someone had squished a ball of brown napkins into his chili fries; his jaw clenched as he stared at it for a moment. His eyes traveled upward slowly, and he saw a familiar face glowering at him from across the circular table. 

“Erica,” he said sharply, only just recalling the tart’s name as he set his biology book on the other side of his dining tray between them, his eyes narrowing. “Always a delight.”

“You didn’t call.”

“What?” 

He had to focus very hard on her face, because as she leaned over the table, hands planted firmly on either side of his biology textbook, he had the opportunity to stare right down her shirt. Naturally, in doing so he would lose all the power in the conversation; as much as he would have preferred the view down her shirt to the one on her face, Loki managed to maintain eye contact. 

“After we hooked up, you said you would call,” she snapped with a huff. “It’s been almost a month, and I get nothing?”

“I don’t have a phone,” Loki argued, his tone bored. He couldn’t even recall if he had made her such a promise, and if he did, it would have only been given as a means to quiet her. 

“Why did you say it then?”

“Haven’t a clue,” he offered with a shrug. “I assumed you knew what you were to me for the one night.”

“You’re a pig,” the woman spat, earning her a few looks from a group of men seated at the next table over. “I’m not just someone you can use for my body—”

“Mouth,” Loki corrected cheekily, holding up one finger to stop her. “Just the mouth.”

Her jaw dropped a little at the comment, and he heard the men nearby snigger. Loki’s eyebrows shot up, and he waited for some further banter to spur on the game. However, she sought to end it faster than it had begun. Before he realized what she was doing, she had flipped open his textbook to some arbitrary section, grabbed his hamburger and squished the innards down on the page. She slammed the book closed dramatically when his eye twitched, and then flounced off through the hall without any parting words. 

His lip curled up as he stared at the condiments oozing out of the side of his textbook, and when he hesitantly opened it again, he saw that the pathetic meat had smeared across the page and its juices had leaked right through. Ruined – absolutely ruined. He spared a glance at his chili fries, which were also completely soiled, and then shut his eyes tightly, repeating a mantra over and over again in his head about not annihilating an entire room of mortals. 

Not that he could even if he tried, mind you. Loki had been fairly accepting of the fact that he lost his strength after his football folly, but right now it certainly would have come in handy. Think of all the tables he could flip, the skulls he could crush if he had but an ounce of his former strength. 

“Dude, that’s rough.”

An unwelcome voice intruded deep into his thoughts, and he saw that the audience from the next table continued to watch him, enraptured. Loki didn’t bother to force a smile or give some sort of acknowledgement at the attempt for camaraderie. However, that seemed lost to the boys next to him, as when they rose and walked by, one dropped an untouched hamburger on his tray. 

“You deserve it,” the giver chuckled, nudging Loki’s shoulder as he passed. “Women are batshit crazy.”

He sat there, completely still, and glared down at the new food. He had won it, apparently, and yet he had no desire to even touch it. Instead, Loki simply rose from the table, slung his bag over his arm, and stormed out of the dining hall. His things were left where they were: the soiled textbook, the crushed napkin-encrusted chili fries, and the trophy burger – all forgotten on the table for someone who made less than he did at his place of employment to clean when the hall cleared. 

A frown permanently fixed to his face, he stormed off in the direction of the bookstore, hoping that his relationship to his manager may earn him a free replacement for the only textbook he actually cared about.

* * *

Natasha’s eyes flew open the moment she heard someone place their foot on the fire escape outside her bedroom window. She hadn’t really been sleeping much anyway, as the air conditioner was broken and the room grew stuffy over the course of the day. At least Bangkok’s night air offered a slight reprieve from the heat, but even in November everything stayed warm, and the smell was enough to force her to keep her window open just a crack. However, if she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have heard her guest, and that could have been to her detriment.

She sat up quickly and retrieved the pistol from her side table, which sat in plain sight as she had no reason to hide it. The room was almost entirely bare aside from her bed, the little table to its left, and her bag of clothes in the corner. She preferred it like this; no chance to grow attached, no time to settle in. She had been in Bangkok for a little under three weeks now, and she had yet to accumulate anything more than a few boxes of take-out and some local clothing. Otherwise, everything belonged to her, including the deadbolt she attached to her door to keep the nosier of her fellow S.H.I.E.L.D. agents out.

After flicking the gun off its safety setting, Natasha rolled out of bed and landed on the tile floor without making a sound. Her baggy t-shirt rode up slightly in the process, but she ignored it as she slid beneath the frame of the nearby window. When she paused, she could hear very faint steps along each rung of the ladder to the right of her window, and her breathing slowed in an effort to focus her concentration. There were no curtains to speak of, and Natasha sidled up along the side in which she knew she could remain invisible. Crouched, she brought her gun up and waited, ignoring the way her legs ached at the strain. Moments later, a gloved hand slipped through the crack of her window, and she watched it lift the pane up. Still, she waited, her breath catching in her throat when she saw a leg slip in, followed shortly by a body in a black uniform. 

With his back to her, she couldn’t be entirely sure who it was, but they were an idiot for crawling in facing away from the bed. In a flash, Natasha was up and slamming the butt end of her gun in the intruder’s skull. He cried out in surprise and fell obediently to his knees when she pressed the nozzle into his neck. 

“Tasha,” he croaked, “I wasn’t expecting a warm welcome, but come on…”

The agent remained tense despite the familiar voice, and she didn’t lower her weapon until she had walked completely around him. Barton had been compromised before, and with bodies being snatched up and used around Thailand, she needed to be completely sure it was him. 

“Name our hotel in Budapest,” she ordered sharply, cocking the weapon as it now hovered between his eyes. He smirked. 

“Corinthia.” 

Her finger lingered on the trigger for a moment longer, until she finally let her arm fall to her side. The corners of her lips quirked upward when he grinned, and she stepped around him quickly to shut the window and lock it. After a quick glance into the brightly lit street below, she tossed her gun back on the side table and leaned against the wall, arms crossed. 

“Hi.”

“Hi yourself,” he mused as he rubbed the back of his head. “Ow.”

“You _were_ breaking into my room,” she told him, eyebrows up as she gave him a once over. “Are you here on assignment?”

“No, I came looking for you,” he told her. “Someone blew up my hotel in Barbados… and apparently guys tried to jump Steve somewhere in England… almost successfully, I might add.”

“So you came here?”

“To see if you knew anything,” he remarked, pushing himself to his feet. “I’ll check in with Fury’s guys in the morning… Whatever you’re doing, I want in.” 

Natasha frowned. “What’s happened to the Captain?”

“He’s on his way to New York to meet up at the new headquarters,” he explained. “So? Anything for me?”

She pursed her lips, and then shook her head. They may have been incredibly close, but she wasn’t about to open up and spill every intimate detail of her assignment with him at some obscure hour in the morning. Besides, she had a sinking suspicion that Agent 22 had bugged her room somehow, and she wasn’t about to give her own private insights into the investigation for him to review later. Although she knew Clint wouldn’t press too much, he would ask questions that were bound to get her talking simply because of their history. 

“Not tonight,” Natasha sighed, running a hand through her shaggy hair and then nodding toward the bed. “Tired?”

“I was,” Clint muttered, peeling off his outer vest and dumping it on the ground, along with a slew of concealed weapons. “I like this sleeping attire. Not going with the usual nothing these days?”

“I’m not a fan of my roommates,” she droned, which made him chuckle. 

“Well, I’m not a roommate,” he offered coyly, taking a step toward her. “You ready for a rematch?”

“And what? Win again?” She laughed, rolling her eyes as he dragged his black shirt off over his head. “Are you sure you want to go down that rabbit hole?”

“I like my odds.”

She rolled her eyes, and then crossed her arms over her chest, “I think I’ll sit this one out.”

“Scared?”

“Not even in the slightest.”

“Good,” he mused. “It’s been a while—”

Natasha cut him off by swinging a punch for his left cheek, which he only just managed to avoid. He responded quickly, latching onto her wrist and hauling her forward, which she countered quickly with a kick to the groin. He grunted, but managed to grasp her by the roots of her hair and drag her down with him, knocking the backs of her knees in the process. They ended up on the ground, Natasha holding Clint down by the throat, and Clint yanking Natasha’s head back by her hair. 

Before she could grunt out her threat, he slammed his palm into the stiff curve of her elbow, which loosened her grip on his throat. He shot up in her momentary weakness, lips to hers before she could protest.


	27. Let's Talk About Sex, Baby

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here or not (I mean, probably, but you never know), but I'm recovering from a head injury that has turned into some serious long-term concussion stuff. I have to decide where to put my energies, as I work as a ghostwriter and an author as well, and since January, I've had to really limit my workload because I've been having setbacks with my recovery.
> 
> So. That's why things are slow sometimes. I've had to stop fanfic completely because I just don't have it in me to work on that plus everything else, but I'm going to try, try, try to keep uploading chapters here. I mean. This story is 300K complete. The second story, Ghost Town, is also around that length. Then The Long Winter, my current WIP with Loki and Max, is also pretty long. Soooo we've got a way's to go before I run out of stuff to post here. Hopefully by then I'll be fully sorted and no longer brain damaged. We'll see!

“Okay, try this one over your shoulder?”

“Yeah, but I won’t be able to see if you catch it,” Max argued, giggling at Ben as they stopped their game momentarily. He paused, drumming his fingers against the light wood of the desk in front of him, and then shrugged. 

“Turn around real fast?”

She shot him a look, and then hurled a pert, round grape at him with all the accuracy she could muster. It looked close, but he managed to snap it up in the nick of time, darting around the desk and chair and bending down in order to catch it in his mouth. He threw his arms up in the air victoriously as she cheered like an idiot in the empty classroom. 

“Go again!”

Max grinned as she tugged another grape off its stem from the bag in her hand, and then tossed it across the room, cheering once more when Ben caught it in his mouth. He seemed to get a little bouncier with each throw, and his confidence soared whenever he managed to catch one while navigating through the rows of desks. 

It was a glorious Tuesday afternoon, and the pair had been waiting for the professor they assisted to bring them the half-marked copies of the exam their class just sat through. Max and Ben had volunteered to grade the true/false and multiple choice sections for the large class after he went through the essay chunks, and the other teaching assistants would get the short answer questions after. 

She wasn’t thrilled that they had been waiting in the empty classroom for almost forty minutes, and it would have been nice of their faculty supervisor to let them know he was running late, but there would have been more trouble for them if they left before getting their hands on the exams. Now, neither of them actually wanted to grade the tests, as Loki informed her that nearly every one of his peers thought the material covered was too difficult, which meant she could expect a lot of wrong answers, and none of the teaching assistants liked handing out bad grades. 

So, in order to put a little cheer in the dismally cold afternoon, Max threw a grape at Ben when he told a really awful joke about something she could no longer remember at this point. The game started there when he actually caught it, and in an attempt to disprove her theory that it was sheer luck, he demanded she throw another one. They started initially by tossing the grapes from the desk she perched on to the one he was on, and now, almost forty minutes later, she was hurling them across the room. He missed a few, but Ben seemed to have developed an incredible amount of coordination over the Thanksgiving holiday, and she liked seeing him feel accomplished with each passing turn. 

Max would have been more irritated to wait, as it was getting close to quarter after five and she was supposed to start a shift at the bookstore sometime around six. However, a text from Melissa vibrated on her phone twenty minutes earlier, and apparently the store wasn’t set to be busy tonight – which Max could have deduced on her own – so her manager decided to give her the night off. Therefore, seeing as she had nowhere to be anymore, she felt much more relaxed to throw grapes at Ben and dance around when he caught them. 

Although childish, the game was a welcome distraction from her incessant thoughts on her budding relationship with Loki. Almost a week had passed since she told Tiffany she could keep her mental shit together and wait for something meaningful to happen with Loki, and she quickly realized that was harder to do than she might have anticipated. She kept waiting for him to say something, or do something that might indicate they were something more than roommates who frequently kissed during the day, but she hadn’t seen anything yet. 

They had worked two shifts together at the bookstore, and she spent the entire time distracted by him wandering around doing things, and Max felt absolutely ridiculous; she felt like some stupid high school girl in their first relationship, and it was maddening. Whenever she did build up the courage to say something, he distracted her with a different conversation, and when it was over, the moment had passed. 

It was all pretty ridiculous, but when Max looked back over their relationship’s entirety, she saw that they weren’t exactly the best at acknowledging things between them. However, with the rate that their cuddles were growing at, she knew she couldn’t sit around wondering forever. They were either something, or they needed to be friends again; her stupid emotions couldn’t handle the awkward middle ground they had forced themselves into. 

One of the worst parts of the whole thing was that Loki hadn’t changed one bit; yes, he was sometimes a little awkward when she pulled his hands away from their wanderings, and he was showing more and more disinterest in her stories that involved other men. Aside from the slight changes in behaviour, he was basically the same as he had always been, which made Max feel like an idiot. She didn’t want to spend her time worrying about what they were, and would have been happy to just be with him, but her brain couldn’t seem to handle that at the moment. 

She needed answers, and perhaps Melissa cancelling her shift tonight was a sign that she ought to try to get them. 

“Let me try an overhand shot,” Max suggested, plucking a rather large grape from the bag. “Be the net to my grape basketball.”

Ben nodded as his knees bent, arms out and ready should he need to bling himself in one direction or the other. He was rarely goofy with her, which made the game all the more fun. One eye squinted shut slightly as she prepared for the shot, and she then watched the grape fly across the room toward him. This one, unfortunately, bounced off his nose, her trajectory slightly off, and she sighed. 

“Again,” he ordered. “I need to shuffle a bit…”

“Okay, but we’re almost out of grapes,” she laughed, holding up the plastic bag as evidence. “So don’t waste the last few.”

“Well, don’t overshoot them,” Ben countered, which made her roll her eyes. “Okay, I’m ready.”

This time, he actually managed to catch it, though he grimaced when he knocked his knee on a nearby chair. Max snorted when he staggered to the side, leaning back against the desk as he chewed the hard-earned grape and massaged his leg. 

“Afternoon, graduate-level historians…”

Max shoved the plastic grape bag into her backpack and Ben straightened hastily when their supervisor strolled into the room, and she almost cringed as she wondered just how long he had been standing there. 

“Hey,” Ben managed, recovering faster than she did as he ran a hand through his shaggy hair. “We just…”

“I’m glad you managed to keep yourselves busy in my absence,” the man chuckled as he set a thick stack of papers down on one of the desks. “Sorry to keep you waiting… I got a call that I really needed to take.”

“No problem.” Max chuckled. “We don’t have lives outside of St. Judith’s anyway.”

“Well, you won’t for the next day or two,” he remarked as he nodded down at the exams. “They’re doing terribly, so I think we can give them a bonus question… coordinate on the one almost everyone got wrong, and we’ll give them the mark.”

“Sounds good.”

A moment or so of polite chitchat followed, and soon enough he vanished, off to do whatever professors did when they weren’t teaching – Max suspected it was a lot of lollygagging on the internet. The pair, now alone again, drifted slowly toward the papers, and Max wrinkled her nose at the size. There had been seventy-five multiple choice questions and twenty-five true/false; even by her standards, it was a pretty brutal exam.

“You take one half and I take the other?” Ben suggested, thumbing through the top few sheets with mild disinterest. “There goes my night…”

“Yeah,” Max sighed. She watched as he divided the pile into two roughly even halves, and smiled a little when he handed her the smaller stack. A thought suddenly occurred to her, and she cleared her throat, “Wait, see which one of us has Loki… I can’t mark his work.”

“Right, yeah, give me a second here…”

As luck would have it, Ben had Loki’s exam already, and Max resisted the urge to sneak a peek at his current mark; it wouldn’t be fair, and she definitely wouldn’t be able to keep from telling him when she got home that evening. 

“So, how are you and Loki doing?”

Max fumbled a little as she tried to stuff the stack of exam packages into her backpack, and then looked up at Ben sharply, “What?”

“You know, living together,” he clarified as he loaded his bag and zipped it up. She watched him sling the thing over his shoulder, readjusting it to accommodate for the new weight, and then smile up at her, “I know you had a lot of trouble with the other guys you lived with…”

“Oh,” she stammered, her cheeks tinting a little at her own ridiculousness. “Yeah, we’re good… He’s actually really easy to live with.”

“That’s good.”

She swallowed thickly in the strained silence that followed, and then glanced out the window. Although the sky had stopped pelting them with fat chunks of snow and ice that morning, it seemed that the rest of the day would go on without any other terrible weather. However, the skies were dark already, and she was pretty sure she would have to dig her car tires out before she attempted to drive. 

“Hey, do you want a ride?” Max asked suddenly, and she smiled when she saw him straighten up, his expression softening into a grin. The offer was mostly genuine, but a little selfish; it always helped to have an extra pair of hands when it came to cars in the winter months. 

Books in hand and backpacks slung across shoulders, she and Ben made their way across campus to the parking lot she usually used, and were soon on their way to his place. She hated how early the sun went down these days, but at least she didn’t have to turn around and drive back to work that night. No, the thought of going home and staying home made her smile, and she was perfectly happy to carry on an innocent conversation with Ben without once feeling as though he was hitting on her. 

“We’re actually having one last party before the winter exams start,” he informed her as they turned into his street. “Corey wants it to be Hawaiian themed, but… we’ll see.”

“That actually sounds like a good time,” she chuckled as she flicked on her signal and pulled up at the curb in front of his house. “I’m pretty sure Loki and I would be down for that.”

“Oh,” she heard him remark. “Great… Well, I’ll keep you updated then.”

Max nodded, and then narrowed her eyes when she spotted some figures scattered across his front yard. 

“We’re building an army,” he told her, and she laughed when she realized they were all snowmen. “The fortress is going up after the next storm… The guys across the street challenged us to a snowball fight.”

“Are you looking for soldiers?” Max asked hopefully, a wide grin on her lips as he unbuckled his seatbelt. She noticed him swallow thickly when he looked up at her, and she cleared her throat. “I mean-“

“Yeah, we could always do with more people.”

“I do have pretty shitty aim though,” she said as she fiddled with the heat gage on the dashboard. “See you tomorrow?”

He was quiet for a moment, and didn’t start to gather his things until she actually looked up at him. 

“Yup,” he muttered, patting down all his belongings to ensure he had everything. “Have fun grading exams.”

“You too.”

They stared at one another for a second or so, and Max was the first to tear her gaze away, pretending to fix the heat again. It wasn’t until she heard the side door shut that she glanced up, and watched his retreating figure disappear into the darkness of his front yard. She let out a lengthy sigh, and then rolled her eyes. After cranking the radio up to an unnecessary level, she pulled away from the curb and carried on home, which only took a matter of minutes. The parking lot was stupidly full when she arrived, and based on the lights and noise coming from one of the upper units, she assumed someone was having a party. 

Backpack across her shoulders, Max hurried across the parking lot, head tucked into her jacket as much as she could manage in an effort to keep out the cold. She fumbled around with her key for a moment, swearing softly under her breath until it finally jammed in the lock, and she almost threw herself into the warmth of her apartment. She could hear the TV blaring in the background as she dumped her bag on the floor and kicked off her boots, and she smoothed her hair out of her face as the sound extinguished itself. 

“So, good news,” she said as she shrugged off her jacket and flung it over the rack. “Melissa texted me this afternoon and said I had the night…’

Max trailed off when she turned around, her eyes landing on the kitchen island; it was covered in food. Well, not covered in food exactly, but full of little plates and bowls with food in them, and it seemed as though Loki had made dinner for her. 

“Evening,” he greeted smoothly, sauntering toward her stunned figure and curving an arm around her waist. “What do you think?”

“Did you…” she paused when he kissed her, her eyes still fixated on the usually empty counter space, “Did you cook me dinner?”

Max finally looked up at him, and he shrugged, “Well, let’s not jump to any miraculous conclusions here—”

She cut him off with a quick kiss, cupping his cheek as she stood up on the tips of her toes. He pulled her to him snugly, his hand wandering down to her backside before Max pulled away, a teasing grin on her lips as she gave his chest a playful shove. She turned away when he licked his lips, the look in his eyes a little too tempting for her to hold, and then moved across the room to examine the spread. Her stomach roared victoriously at the smells of familiarity, and she quickly realized he had ordered in from an Italian place they had recently grown fond of. 

“So you ordered in,” she chuckled as he slid into his usual chair, “and then put everything in our dishes so it looks like you cooked?”

“Doesn’t this look nicer than a counter full of take-away boxes?” he inquired, eyebrows shooting up when she shot him a look. “I’ll even do the dishes afterward.”

“It’s not my birthday,” Max remarked as she hopped up onto one of the barstools. “Why am I getting spoiled?”

“Am I not allowed to spoil you because I feel like it?”

Her cheeks prickled when the blush appeared, and Max was happy that he had bent down to fetch something else to avoid seeing the results of his handiwork. She heard something fall to the floor, and when he resurfaced, he had a bottle of wine in hand. He set it in front of her, a smirk on his lips, and she leaned closer to examine the label; it was the same one she had bought for the family on Thanksgiving.

“You’re kind of ridiculous,” she said in a very small voice, “but I guess I’ll take it.”

Loki chuckled quietly, and while he went to work on the wine bottle, Max dished out the food between the two plates. They shared a similar taste, and on top of the glorious ribs and pasta, Loki was given an extra helping of vegetables, whereas Max loaded up her plate with garlic bread. She watched him fill her cup with the dark red liquid that had been a hit on Thanksgiving, and then spared a glance in his direction. 

Was this the gesture she had been looking for? After all, how many other guys would go out of their way to do something like this? She could imagine a few, but they didn’t actually live with the woman they were interested in at that point, which seemed to make the act all the more special. Their apartment was neutral territory; it was a place where she could stumble out of bed without wearing a bra and eat frozen pizza for breakfast while Loki talked back to the news reporters. Yet here they were, in that same space, enjoying something that Loki had clearly gone out of his way to do for her, and it felt wonderful. 

“Wait,” she started, shooting him a suspicious look as he scooped a forkful of greens into his mouth. “How did you know I’d be home tonight? I told you I was working…”

He swallowed quickly and grinned at her. “I may have asked for a favour from Melissa.”

Her eyebrows shot up and she snorted, head cocked to the side as she observed him, “Oh? And what was the price for _that_ one?”

“Nothing,” he insisted snootily. “I merely asked nicely, and my wish was granted.”

“You’re so lucky you’re good looking,” she commented, shaking her head at him as she broke her garlic bread in half. “People wouldn’t do all this stuff for you if you looked like a normal person.”

“Are you saying you’re only interested in me for my looks?” he asked, his tone scandalized as she chewed thoughtfully. 

“Yes.”

“Well, I suppose that isn’t all bad,” he sighed, and Max squealed unattractively when he gave her side a pinch. “That’s the only reason I spoil you.”

“My looks?” she scoffed. 

“Of course… What else?”

“Glad we’re on the same page here.” Max snorted, and she saw him smirk as he dug into his plate of food, clearly pleased with himself. 

A general discussion of their day followed soon after, and Max listened contentedly as he told her about the issues he had with the take-out people at the restaurant in regards to his order. However, although she looked as though she was giving him her full attention, those niggling thoughts about their relationship had crept up on full force. He had done something so thoughtful for her that evening, and yet they still hadn’t decided if they were anything yet. Perhaps this was what Tiffany had alluded to over lunch; one day they would just be, and there wouldn’t need to be a discussion. However, Max didn’t think she was the type of person to overthink things, and yet here she was, and it needed to be stopped. It was the mature thing to do – they ought to discuss this like adults. 

She cleared her throat as he took a large sip of his wine, “So, I’ve been thinking—”

“Dangerous pastime, Max.”

“Fuck you,” she continued, which made him grin. “No, but seriously, I’ve kind of just been wondering about… about us.”

“Ah, I see.”

She watched him set his glass down and then sigh, which made her palms sweat. 

“It’s not huge, or anything,” she carried on quickly, hoping to get everything she needed to say out before he took something the wrong way. “I just… This was really nice, and it implies a lot, but for the sake of my own… well, my sanity, I need to know what we’re doing.”

“We’re eating dinner.”

“Loki.”

She bit her lower lip as he poured himself another glass of wine, and then topped off hers. 

“I just need to know if we’re… dating,” she said, feeling stupid the moment the words left her mouth. He looked at her sharply, and she shrugged. “I mean, are we an official something, or are we just roommates who fool around occasionally?”

He scratched at the back of his neck, and then sighed, “Max, please do not take this the wrong way, but…” She straightened up a little, her stomach knotting uncomfortably. “I like what we have. I find our relationship very… comforting.”

“But?”

“But,” he continued, placing a hand on top of hers next to the garlic bread plate, “I have no interest in announcing our relationship to the world.”

“So, you don’t want to make it official?” she repeated, trying to work through his ridiculous roundabout way of saying things. 

“It’s not that I wish to stop or change what we’re doing,” he carried on, “but I don’t know how long I will actually be here, and I don’t want you to grow too attached to me—”

“Wow,” she said quickly, pulling her hand away from his and setting it in her lap. “I’m sorry, but what?”

He made her sound like an idiot – grow too attached to him… What the hell was that supposed to mean?

“My situation is very complex—”

“Yes, I know,” she snapped. “The complicated situation back home that you won’t tell me about. I get it, it’s your business.”

“Precisely—”

“I don’t really understand how that affects us being something.”

“Why do we need to _be_ anything?” he asked, his tones clipped as he drummed his fingers on the counter. “Max, nothing needs to change—”

“Maybe this ambiguous stuff works for you,” she told him coolly, “and maybe it did for girls in the past, but it doesn’t really work for me.”

“A relationship is hardly one thing or the other,” Loki snapped, his eye twitching as she glared at him. “Placing some label on it does not mean-“

“Well, I’m sorry to be a huge girl about this,” she managed as she folded her arms across her chest, “but I need a little bit more than what this is right now. It either needs to be or it isn’t.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he remarked as he slid off the chair and stalked to the other side of the island, leaning back against the sink with his arms also folded. “I think you’re overreacting.”

“Fine, tell me what you mean when you don’t know how long you’re going to be here for,” she ordered, her cheeks red at her behaviour. “Should I be looking for a new roommate sometime soon?”

“Forget I said it.”

“No, I think that’s something that warrants an explanation,” Max remarked irritably. “What did you mean?”

“I’ll not face some ridiculous interrogation in my own home,” he snapped, and she watched him cross the kitchen and stand at the entrance of the hallway. She raised an eyebrow at him when he glanced back at her. 

“See, this is what sucks about living with the person you just started seeing,” she sneered, gesturing out to the apartment with both arms. “Things get weird and there’s nowhere for you to hide because your bedrooms are right across from each other.”

He looked as though he had something more to say, but then thought better of it, and Max watched him stalk across the apartment to the door. 

“I’m going for a walk,” he said stiffly as he shoved his feet into a pair of boots. “I’ll return later.”

“Oh, good,” Max said as he opened the door. “Glad you told me, because I wouldn’t know if you decided to just leave—”

The door slam cut her off, and Max sighed noisily. She glanced around the empty apartment, as though checking to see if anyone else had caught her ridiculous display, and then pressed her forehead down against the cool counter, her food forgotten.

* * *

Loki stood on the sidewalk on the outskirts of the apartment block parking lot, hands in his pockets as he stared out at nothing. He hadn’t anticipated the evening ending this way, and it certainly wasn’t something he wanted. In fact, he thought Max would sing his high praises throughout the meal, and hoped that whoever might be listening would see his kindness toward the humans. The display would surely go on to Odin’s ears, and he may possibly regain a little bit of his former abilities as a reward. However, that seemed lost now, and as his eyes narrowed at a nearby car, he realized he may have ruined his chances of furthering anything with Max in the process. 

He hadn’t done the dinner entirely for Odin’s sake. All of the noxious television programs Max liked to watch always had some element of romance in them, and Loki had seen men treat their women to extravagant gestures as a means to earn their favour. He thought that if he did something nice for her, she may open up to him even further than she already had; besides, it was always nice to be appreciated. He thoroughly enjoyed the way Max looked up to him, charmed and impressed by mannerisms that many in his life had found bothersome in the past, and it never hurt to try for something more. Unfortunately, that too had been ruined when he told her of his hesitance to cement their relationship in actual terms. 

After all, his powers could return at any time, and when they did, he planned to leave as soon as possible. It would be difficult to part from that ridiculous woman, as mad as she drove him, but Loki knew he would be better off somewhere outside of Midgard. Therefore, with that future looming at the back of his mind, he did not want to see Max hurt horribly at his departure, and assumed it would be easier if they continued their relationship on its current trajectory: casual companions who occasionally engaged in illicit activities. His level of arousal had started to perk back up again, and he knew that it would only be a matter of weeks before he was unable to think of anything other than carnal desires. He thought Max may also be able to help with that, but seeing as she needed something more from him, something he knew he wasn’t able to give without a struggle, that prospect also seemed unlikely. 

His walk took up the better part of an hour, and when he returned, he had decided his future course of action; he would let her determine what they were to become. As long as he could stay here with her, Loki could accept whatever sort of relationship she wanted… aside from one that was any more serious than the casual image he had in mind. He couldn’t be her… her boyfriend, or some nonsense like that. Despite the affection he felt for her, Loki knew that would do neither of them any good in the end. 

So, why did he hesitate before entering their home? He now stood in front of their door, staring at the knob for a moment, until he finally shook his head and straightened his shoulders, silently admonishing himself for letting some human keep him from doing anything. 

He found Max seated on the couch when he finally stepped inside, her legs tucked beneath her and her arms resting in her lap. She had changed out of her more appealing trousers into the baggy ones that did little for the limbs that lurked beneath, and her hair was swept up and out of her face. After slipping out of his jacket and kicking off his shoes, he joined her on the couch, opting to sit a little closer than he should. They were silent for a moment or so, both of them staring at the blank television screen, and Loki wondered if they were just going to ignore what had happened. He glanced back at the counter and saw that all the food had been packaged up, and there was no evidence of their meal aside from the empty wine bottle and their forgotten glasses. 

“I’m sorry,” she murmured finally, cutting him off just before he tried to speak. “I think I overreacted a little. You were right.”

Her eyes flickered up at him when he turned to face her, and he couldn’t help but tuck stray bits of hair behind her ear. 

“I should have said something sooner,” he admitted. “It was unkind of me to lead you along without any intentions of giving you what you need.”

“Yeah, it was.” She finally positioned her body toward him, and he saw nothing of the earlier frustration in her eyes. Instead, she looked a little tired, and quite possibly dejected. “Is it because you don’t want to be exclusive?”

He had to think for a moment to understand what she had hinted at, and then quickly shook his head when he realized it. “No… I have no desire to be with anyone else.” 

“Then what is it?”

He trailed his fingers through her soft hair, and then sighed, “It is complicated—”

“Right, complicated.”

She moved her head out of his grasp, and then nibbled on her lower lip, eyes looking anywhere around the room than directly at him. 

“I do not want to leave,” Loki told her earnestly. “I like living with you.”

“So do I,” she offered, “even though it isn’t really doing us any favours.”

“Tell me what you want then,” he ordered, reaching for her chin and tilting it toward him. “Tell me.”

“I think this is the wine talking,” she muttered, “but maybe not… I can’t… I can’t just be someone you fool around with. I have all these stupid feelings that need to be taken care of too.”

He should have felt smug that he did this to her, that he had conjured up such strong emotions with very minimal effort, but something inside him kept him from doing so. Instead, he simply nodded, “I understand.”

“Maybe we should just cool it for a while?” she suggested, “I don’t want you to go just because we screwed ourselves over with this.”

He nodded again, and then planted a chaste kiss on her cheek. “Yes. I would like to stay here.”

“Me too,” she murmured, her face remaining very near to his. Loki caught sight of her glancing down at his lips, and he ensnared her in a kiss before she pulled away. She tasted like the wine he had enjoyed during their meal, and it seemed the beverage made her more receptive to his advances than he could have anticipated. A soft moan sounded in her throat when he nipped gently at her lower lip, and he dragged her into his lap when she slipped her tongue between their slightly parted lips. 

He needed to do very little to encourage her, and Loki pressed his lips together firmly when she trailed a line of kisses along his jawline. This was doing _nothing_ to help with his arousal levels. He wrapped his hands around her slim waist, and then ground her hips against him, hoping that the gesture may offer slight reprieve to the tightness beneath his trousers. Unfortunately, that only seemed to make it worse, and Max gasped in his ear when he bit at her neck sharply, evidence of his interest suddenly very apparent between them. 

“Wait,” she whispered as his cool hands slid under her sweater. He ignored her as he tugged it up and over her head, tossing the garment in favour of the view he found underneath. She pressed her hands against his chest, easing herself away when he tried to run his lips along her newly exposed flesh. “What are we doing? We just… We decided—”

“I had thought we might start tomorrow,” he told her shakily. “We can begin anew in the morning…”

She blinked at him, her tongue slowly darting out to lick her lower lip, and he resisted the urge to lean up and take her by the mouth again. She seemed hesitant now, perhaps only suddenly truly aware of what she was doing, and Loki quickly wondered just how much wine she had consumed in his absence. 

“What do you think?” he inquired, his need growing when he spared a glance down at her barely concealed breasts. 

“I’m not having sex with you.”

“There are other pleasures,” he remarked quickly, and before she could refuse or contemplate further, Loki rose to his feet. She wrapped her legs around him easily as he marched them down the hall, and then carried her into his room. He kicked his door shut behind him – not that it mattered, as they were very much alone in the apartment – and then deposited the woman on his bed. 

There were other pleasures, certainly. However, Loki was unfamiliar with women who went willingly to his bed without the intent of giving themselves to him, and he wasn’t particularly sure what he was supposed to do with her now. When she sat up and pulled him closer, his fingers automatically went to his own shirt, and he removed it so that they could be in an equal state of undress. Her eyes wandered his chest appreciatively as he descended upon her once more, and she exhaled sharply when he tugged at her trousers. 

The only benefit to these unattractive ones was that it was quite easy to dispense with them. He dragged them down by one finger, and Max kicked them off when they reached her ankles. She looked lovely in the light of his desk lamp, and Loki felt himself harden further when she grazed him with her hand, her eyes alight with mischief when he inhaled sharply. 

“Ridiculous woman,” he hissed, pushing her back against his bed as he crawled on top of her. 

He swallowed her giggles with his mouth as he shoved a knee between her legs, parting them enough for him to slip between her thighs. They hadn’t gone this far yet, but if this were to be the last night that Loki had with her for some time, he wasn’t about to let it go to waste on kisses alone. Instead, he reached between her legs and cupped her, holding back a groan when he felt her heat against his palm. She stiffened at the contact, but gave no other signs of protest when he reached beneath the flimsy garment she wore beneath her trousers. Her legs widened when he trailed a finger along her, and his lust only grew at the fairly obvious signs of her arousal. 

If she hadn’t downright refused to be wholly intimate with him earlier, he may have simply pulled down his trousers and taken her like that. However, he had some sort of strange respect for the woman, and therefore rather than having what he truly wanted from her at that moment, Loki slipped a pair of fingers inside her instead, swallowing thickly at the way she tightened around him, a breathy moan tumbling from her lips. He settled on his elbow, one hand nestled in her hair while the other pleasured her, and he eagerly accepted her hungry kiss. She trembled deliciously at his handiwork, her moans growing with each passing moment, until she finally cried out when he attended to the sensitive spot he had purposefully ignored. Loki liked the way her eyes widened, how her breath hitched in her throat, but all his watching left him woefully unprepared for when she dipped her hand beneath his pants and gripped him firmly. 

She had yet to touch him beneath his clothing, and his pace between her thighs floundered when she pumped her hand along his length, the pressure so exquisite that he stilled himself for a moment or so to fully enjoy it. However, when he caught sight of the smug grin on her lips, he resumed his effort tenfold, and he watched her come undone in a matter of minutes, her body clenching around his fingers and her hand gripping him so tightly that he groaned her name against his throat. She continued to stroke him shakily, her breathing heavy and skin flushed. He almost lost himself when she whimpered at the removal of his fingers, and he gripped her thigh firmly when he felt his own end swiftly approaching. 

“Stop,” he ordered, his voice husky in the dimly lit room. She continued, smearing the liquid at his tip down the rest of him, and he felt his abdomen clench. He snatched up her wrist and yanked it away from him, “Unless you wish for me to finish properly, I suggest you stop.”

He had no desire to finish all over her hand, nor did he want her mouth like some common whore. Instead, Loki felt a need for closeness, for the intimacy of having her properly, and the very idea made him frustrated. 

“Did I do something wrong?” she asked softly, and he shook his head. 

“If you are not going to give yourself to me,” he ground out, mindful of his words, “then I suggest you leave.”

“It’s fine if you—”

“Max,” he said sharply, shooting her a look. “Please, I’ll not… You’re too great a temptation.”

He hadn’t meant to hurt her, but the look on her face indicated her had done exactly that. However, the pressure in his groin was almost unbearable at this point, and if he couldn’t finish properly, he wanted her gone so that he could finish himself. 

Loki watched her gather up her pants and hurry from the room, and he then heard her slam her own bedroom door behind her. It only took a few moments before he groaned softly, using his hand to relieve the pressure. He then rolled onto his back, his breathing ragged, and he wrinkled his nose as he wiped his hand on his pants. 

What was he doing? He hated the way that woman made him feel so… so incredibly human.


End file.
